Selective Rumination Explained: The Consequences of Focusing Solely on Negatives
As I was making an hour and a half drive to Walmart with no music rumination popped into my head. As I pondered on the idea of rumination, I realized that I do not ruminate nearly as much on the positives or improvements in my life as I do the negatives. I thought, wow that seems like selective rumination. So, I began to research articles and blogs on rumination. What I found to be the most fascinating is that when I googled “rumination” almost every piece referenced the idea of dwelling on the negative. I began to question the definition of rumination because I believed it to be defined as simply dwelling on something repeatedly, I did not think that it was solely on dwelling on the negatives.
To ensure that I was certain about my thoughts about rumination, I googled “define ruminate.” And I was correct. According to Webster’s dictionary, ruminate is defined as “to think deeply, slowly, and carefully about something.” In addition, I found that rumination is slightly defined differently when speaking from the point of view of general and philosophy terms vs psychology and mental health aspects. So, to be clear Webster’s definition is in general terms of simply dwelling continuously on anything while psychology veer towards obsessive or excessive repetition of negative thoughts.
This back information is vital to this journal entry because I would like to expound on the importance of giving the positives in our life or the improvements that we see within ourselves the depth of rumination that we do on difficult thoughts and experiences. Going through life, there are always cycles of ups and downs. Personally, I find myself giving much more energy to the downs rather than the ups. On the drive to Walmart, I came to this realization, and I was a bit bothered. I am struggling in several aspects of my life because I am making many major life changing decisions. But even through the struggles, I recognize an immense amount of progress that I have made. One of my biggest improvements is my ability to self-regulate throughout these challenges. I have kept myself afloat and beyond through the difficulties and I effectively process thoughts that tend to cause me disturbances. Although I have slipped in and out of depressive moments, they do not nearly hold me down for weeks, and months, from season to season as they did in the past.
Having the ability to give myself grace, compassion, and understanding while maintaining my resilience has played a pivotal role in my ability to continue to move forward. This alone is a beautiful tool because life will always have challenges and it is important to not allow myself to go down a rabbit hole of self-pity simply because things may be difficult. I recall within the last few years, I was in and out of therapy because times were difficult, I found myself stuck in depression for months, then I went back to therapy. This was a cycle for years. Now, I may fall into depression for a few days, maybe even a week but I pull myself up and out. I journal daily, push to find the root cause, challenge the thoughts, reassure myself and sometimes lean on behavioral activation to get back into productivity.
As I sit here, I also realized that this is the longest and most consistent that I have ever been with my physical fitness and sobriety. That alone is something that I always aim to remember to praise. My sobriety is the reason that I am even able maintain my awareness and be present enough with myself to notice changes. The goal is to always remember how far I’ve come in my personal journey and the maximum effort it has taken to get here. It was hard and I did it alone, with the guidance of my therapist. Though I am no longer in therapy, the tools that I have learned has been the key component to my continued growth.
Focusing on the negative often pushes me into a space to forget how far I have come. Of course, it is inevitable that hard times will resurface but accepting the cycle and remembering how far I have come is where I strive to improve. I will say though, my daily gratitude journal has helped me to find the good in my life every day. The goal of this journaling post is to vow to myself that I will put a bit more effort into reminding myself of the improvements that I have made and remember that I can handle anything that comes my way.
If you resonate with this post or would like to share your perspective, feel free to email me at hello@TheBriannaAmanda.com