Negative Self Talk For Writers

I never did get around to publishing a summary post for my Negative Self Talk series. I had reason this week to reread my article (these habits are easy to fall back into), so maybe it is a good time for other people to read them as well.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Negativising

Negativising occurs when you focus only on the negative aspects of an experience.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Awfulizing

Awfulizing occurs when you take a difficult situation or a problem and you turn it into a terrible, intolerable situation.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Catastrophizing

Catastrophizing occurs when you expect the worst to happen, especially in situations in which the risks are moderate or low and the reward is worthwhile.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Overgeneralizing

Overgeneralizing occurs when you take a single or rare event or fact and you use that as the basis for a negative opinion or outlook.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Minimizing

Minimizing occurs when you diminish the value of an accomplishment or skill.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Blaming

Blaming occurs when you assign responsibility for your problems or the events in your life to another person rather than accept personal responsibility for your situation.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Perfectionism

Perfectionism occurs when you hold yourself or others up to unreasonably high standards.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Musterbation

Musterbation (great word) occurs when you insist that an event or a project turn out exactly the way you want it to, otherwise you will either get very upset or give up.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Personalizing

Personalizing occurs when you convince yourself that you are the cause of other people’s problems and behavior.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Judging human worth

Judging human worth occurs when you decide your self-worth or another person’s self-worth based on a single trait or behavior.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Polarized thinking

Polarized thinking occurs when you believe that there are only right or wrong outcomes or views.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Fairesy

Fairesy occurs when you feel angry or resentful because you think that someone (or the world) has treated you unfairly.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Right stepping

Right stepping occurs when you decide that your opinions and actions are the right ones and that you must continually prove this to others.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Shoulding

Shoulding occurs when you dwell on the things that you or others should or should not have done.

Negative Self Talk for Writers: Obsessing

Obsessing occurs when you take a relatively minor problem or issue and dwell on it to the point of distraction.

Note: Much of the terminology I am using is from an excellent textbook called Stress Management for Wellness — by Walt Schafer.