This is How You Can Counteract Negative Thoughts (Morning Routine)

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I know the "no technology/social media" advice gets old but it's so accurate in this case. I have found an EXTREME difference in my day's overall mood when I choose to start my day (go to bathroom, stretch, feed pet, whatever) before touching my phone/laptop. Then again, I'd probably notice an even bigger positive difference if I cut it out all together. But I'm an internet addict so...

Don't use tech first thing in the morning Allow yourself to grieve and don't try to fix the problem when you're feeling terrible. You can't fix problems in the wrong mindset Avoid alcohol, narcotics first thing in the morning Clean or walk first thing in the morning Assign a time to think negatively and deal with it when you're clear-headed

Takeaways: → Ask yourself, when you feel the negative emotions? → Don’t use tech or substances when your in a negative mood and Use tech and substances in moderation. → Go for a walk, clean something, … the idea is to not engage with them at the moment and let other thoughts to fill it. → Assign a time to deal with negative thoughts with a clear head. This is compartmentalizing.

As of this week, I've finally found a morning routine that works for me, and I've stuck with it and haven't been late to work at all. I'm very proud, as this hasn't been the case (on a reliable basis) for years, and upon hearing you talk about those negative thoughts that debilitate you in the morning, I can see that was what was going on with me

Failure doesnt mean you're worthless, it means you must look for another route to achieving worth wide goals, a GOOD morning routine is the best start.

Interesting fact: When going for walks our eyes move. The lateral eye movements occurring in a higher quantity on the walk suppress the amygdala. This is the basis of EMDR (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapy.

The irony is that I'm watching this first thing in the morning to distract myself...

The fact that taking walks and cleaning are two of my favorite things to do. Makes sense now lmao

The faster i get to my walk, the better. I wake wishing i was dead. But the walk convinces me to keep going. The walk itself is great....and I'm doing something that makes my dog happy. Making someone else happy is a good feeling.

Getting cats helped me, my first thought in the morning is that I need to feed, water them and clean their litterbox. Also cuddle and loving them ❤

Wish my mental health team had given or even understood guidance like this. Instead, my mental health team just gave me a diagram with a bucket filling with water (stress) and said the only way to create holes in the bucket was to do things hobbies and things I enjoyed - basically distractions. Of course that didn't work because nothing got solved, and because my problems involved a time limit, I felt even worse than before. I felt I had to explain to them how it was just sticking a plaster over a wound and making things worse, but I didn't attempt to because I didn't have the authority that their training had (and even then they wouldn't have told me actual useful advice like this).

It’s so weird how perfectly timed this video was for me. Just this morning I was in that negative thought loop and kept beating myself up for not doing better. I really needed this! I’m gonna start working on having a morning routine again. Thank you Dr. K!!!!

I just snooze 5 times until I’m late for work.

Morning depression…so relatable. Crying before my feet hit the floor almost daily. I wake at 5:30😮

my therapist saw i was beating myself up over past failures and told me "each of your past attempts contributes to your success". it resonated with me a lot. good luck, everyone! start slowly, gradually, and be consistent 🖤

Something that helps enourmsly with my anxiety is sharing my thoughts with close friends. Just talking about them helps me to relax, my anxiety isn't away but I feel more confident with handling the situation cause I know, that someone knows what I'm going through and I can text them for help without having to explain the entire situation.

There’s a Dutch verb called ‘uitwaaien’, which describes “going out for a walk (or bike ride) and feeling the wind around you to clear your head”. You described the construct and the benefits of ‘uitwaaien’ perfectly.

I have the opposite problem, generally starting strong in the morning but amassing negative thoughts throughout the day until I'm spent by mid-afternoon. The main thing which stops this onset is going to work, but they'll start right back up after; if I work later rather than right after waking up, I'll have a worse work day because I had time for these thoughts to gather. By the end of the day, I'll have very bad insomnia because of these thoughts unless I take some sort of sleep supplement. So I don't know what kind of routine I need in order to prevent that.

due to my ptsd and living in a triggering environment, I've really struggled with this negativity in the morning and subconsciously avoiding the things that would calm me down in anticipation of 'the fall' or the negativity I would return to in the environment. having these stratagies explained to me is so releaving, i really hope some counselors and therapists find your videos and start using your way of explaining things to describe stratagies to their patients. I feel like if this was explained to me like this, I would have understood it a lot better. thank you Dr. K, your videos are always such a world of insight