10/16/2026
🧠 Your brain can convince you something is true simply because it feels true, and why would you not trust yourself?
Have you ever experienced anxiety so intensely that your thoughts started to feel like facts?
Anxiety manifests differently in each of us. From the outside, it can be difficult to understand why someone responds to a situation the way they do.
When you’re in the middle of intense anxiety, your experience is entirely different. Your heart may race, your thoughts may spiral, and suddenly, the worst-case scenario feels like the most likely outcome.
Here is something fascinating about the way our brains work. 🧠
Our brains are constantly gathering information, recognizing patterns, drawing on past experiences, analyzing it all, and trying to make sense of the world around us with what information it has.
Think of it a little like AI. AI systems use information they have been trained on to generate responses, but that information does not guarantee an accurate answer.
Similarly, our brains can interpret present situations through the lens of past experiences, learned beliefs, and perceived threats. Wild!
Sometimes, we get it right. Other times, our brains draw conclusions based on incomplete information, assumptions, or experiences that do not accurately reflect what is happening now.
In psychology, these patterns can include cognitive distortions, sometimes called thinking errors.
Re- phrasing can help-
💭 “They haven’t responded to my message. They must be upset with me.”
Instead- They did not respond, I sure hope they are okay.
💭 “I made a mistake. I am going to fail at everything.”
Instead- I made a mistake, but I was able to learn something new.
💭 “I feel unsafe, so something terrible must be about to happen.”
Instead- you try it! Share in the comments your re-phrasing.
These thoughts may feel convincing, especially when anxiety is high. Feeling something strongly does not automatically make our interpretation of the situation accurate.
Our emotions are real. The conclusions we draw from them however are not always facts.
Our senses provide valuable information, but they don’t always tell us the entire story. Our perceptions can be influenced by stress, expectations, memories, and our current emotional state.
That’s why learning to stop 🛑, and think critically about what is happening around us, and within us is such an important part of emotional wellness.
🌿 Try this: Pause. Notice. Question. Reassess.
❤️ What do I actually know right now?
❤️ What am I assuming?
❤️ Is there another possible explanation?
❤️ What evidence supports this thought, and what evidence challenges it?
❤️ Am I responding to what’s happening in the present, or is a past experience influencing how I am interpreting this moment? This will impact how you respond in the moment.
The goal is not to dismiss your emotions, force yourself to think positively, or convince yourself that everything is fine. That would simply not be true, or fair.
It is to create enough space between a thought, and your response to consider what might actually be happening.
🏙️ In our Wellness City, emotional wellness means learning to understand our emotions without allowing every thought to dictate our next move.
We may not always control the first thought that enters our minds, but we can practice examining it, gathering more information, and choosing how we respond, or what we do with that info.
👉 Remember: You can acknowledge a feeling without accepting every thought that comes with it as fact.
What are some ways you manage anxiety?
That’s not ignoring your emotions. That’s learning to work with them.
💚 Journey well with Jess
