Finding Peace Amid Anxious Thoughts
How many times have anxious thoughts overwhelmed our mind? I doubt any of us can say we’ve never experienced them. It’s something we all face at some point, and it can feel exhausting. The feelings and thoughts of unease, uncertainty, fear, worry, and nervousness come to all of us. Anxious thoughts aren’t always bad — they can help us act and make better choices for our future.
Growing up, I remember hearing my mum use the idiom “Every cloud has a silver lining,” which according to the Cambridge Dictionary means “that every difficult or unpleasant situation has some advantage.” But many times, anxious and negative thoughts can hold us captive and spiral us into unhelpful thinking patterns and emotions.
What Are Anxious Thoughts?
Have you ever had someone say, “Stop being a worry wart,” or heard phrases like “I have butterflies in my stomach” or “My heart was in my mouth” to describe anxious moments?
Anxious thoughts are when your mind starts worrying about things that might happen, even if there’s no real reason to be nervous. It’s the “what ifs” — what if this goes wrong, what if I mess up? These thoughts can be exhausting and leave us feeling tense, restless, or on edge, as though something bad is about to happen, even when it might not. It can feel like your mind is constantly on high alert, making it hard to quiet things down.
Three Gentle Steps for Dealing With Anxious Thoughts
When it comes to managing anxious thoughts, whether on our own or through anxiety counselling, one of the most helpful things we can do is slow the process down.
1. Recognise and Acknowledge
When anxious thoughts hit us, the first step I encourage my clients to take is to acknowledge the thought. It’s easy to try to push it away, but when we do that, the thought often continues to drive us without us even realising it — like being in a car heading toward a traffic light without noticing.
By pausing and acknowledging the thought, we can take control again. Those racing thoughts may feel overwhelming, but they’re just thoughts — and that’s okay. When we acknowledge them, we can breathe, calm ourselves, and remember that we’re the ones in the driver’s seat, not the anxious thought.
2. Examine the Truth of It
The second step is to gently challenge the truth behind the thought. Anxious thoughts often arrive so quickly that we don’t stop to ask whether they’re actually true.
It can help to pause and ask: Is this thought based on real evidence, or is my mind overthinking?
When we don’t question anxious thoughts, they can begin to feel like truth, even when they’re not.
3. Replace the Thought
The third step is to replace the thought — which is often untrue — with a more truthful one. Once we’ve acknowledged the thought and examined it, we can begin to replace it. This can take practice, especially if we’ve spent much of our lives carrying anxious or negative thinking patterns.
For some people, counselling for anxiety can provide gentle support in learning how to recognise anxious thoughts, challenge them, and respond with greater calm.
Faith And Finding Calm
As a Christian, I find peace by remembering God’s truth and who I am in Christ. When anxious thoughts creep in, I quietly repeat Scripture — often from Psalms — like a reassuring playlist in my mind. This helps me to cast my worries on Christ and find calm, reminding me that I’m not alone.
“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength”.
This quote, commonly attributed to Charles Spurgeon, gently reminds me that anxious thoughts don’t really help with the future — they only drain our strength today. When I’m able to let go of these worrying thoughts, as difficult as that can be, I find a little more calm and the strength to face what’s right in front of me.
What might it take for you to let go of some anxious thoughts and find a little more peace?