The Unreliable Narrator: Defeating Anxious and Negative Thoughts

Our battles today are fought and won in the mind. It's a silent war waged within that can be combatted through cognitive reframing and by internalizing a series of truths. Anxiety and depression are liars. Thoughts aren't facts. Emotions aren't identity. You can't hate yourself into who you want to be, you can't stress your way out of a problem. Courage is more important than confidence. Self-worth does not lay in achievements or external validation, but is inherent as children of God. Out of vulnerability comes progress. The growth mindset-backed by neuroscientific research on neuroplasticity-is the number one determinant of success. Realizing that a learning curve and failure (not exceptionalism) is part of the journey towards mastery and success, is what makes people achieve. Feelings of anxiety can be part of the growth journey into your ideal self, according to the theory of positive disintegration. Thoughts form neural pathways, or beliefs, that form actions, which create outcomes, which reinforce thoughts, in one big feedback loop. We are capable of creating a positive feedback loop by correcting irrational thinking, defeating the amygdala's fight-or-flight response that social anxiety causes. We are capable of walking by faith, and not the countless fears the world tries to impose on us.

As we believe we do. The reliance on external validation, self-objectification, the arrival fallacy on the hedonic dopamine treadmill, perfectionism, and prospect theory-which states how humans overestimate risk and underestimate the probability of gains-are all working against you. This guide tells you how to beat them and find more joy and peace. Peace truly isn't a place, status symbol, escapism, another vocation, a dopamine chase, vice or an object to be coveted. Treasures of this earth leave us feeling empty. Peace is a mentality. True happiness is love-loving God, loving one another as God loves us, and living out that love through gratitude and servitude. If we can master our thoughts through cognitive reframing, we can master our human autonomy to silence negative thoughts, overcome anxiety, depression, procrastination, and to find self-worth, peace, freedom, and purpose. This a guide on how to break free from the unreliable narrators that paints a false reality in your mind, so you can (as 2 Corinthians 10:5 says) make your thoughts obedient to Christ, shed cognitive biases, and achieve your goals. Let rock bottom be the place you stop digging, and instead build up a beautiful life. Your real life is on the other side of fear. Break free of the unreliable narrators in your life.