Thank you so much for your advice!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Vegetarian4Life,

my advice is to just take it one step at a time. Like you I am overwhelmed with my amount of negative thoughts. I write down at least 10 and work on changing them to positive, believable ones on paper. I think the writing part is to help us visually, I think we will begin to do this process in our thinking automatically after we have spent time writing them over a period of time. As for friends who vent or complain I think some of it could be just "blowing off steam" and having that validation from someone else is nice. If it's not the majority of your conversations, I think a little venting is okay, especially if it produces a possible solution or new insight, maybe your friends aren't aware of their negativity, if you're good friends hopefully you can lovingly point it out. If that's not an option, I would limit the amount of time spent with them. You don't need more negativity! I hope that I encouraged you.