How do you keep from mentally spiraling? Do you have tips or tricks to pull yourself out of it? How do you know when you’ve wallowed enough and you need to move on?

At work, in life, whatever the case may be. I’d love to know what works for you.

Question

How do you keep from mentally spiraling? Do you have tips or tricks to pull yourself out of it? How do you know when you’ve wallowed enough and you need to move on?

At work, in life, whatever the case may be. I’d love to know what works for you.

reo · Answer

Imaginary friends: I have a UN council of imaginary animals that help me with various things, and for spiraling I have a wonderful imaginary pal named Barbara who is a hedgehog. Barbara escaped from an evil scientist’s lab where he was adding various bionic attachments to her and so he has one long, extendable arm with a stop sign at the end. Whenever I start spiraling Barbara extends her little stop sign to interrupt me.

This is insane, I am aware, but it works for me!

The UN cabinet also featured a tortoise, a two headed eel, a crow and a toad, each with tasks. They take their jobs very seriously.

Vera · Answer

Feel the feels but release the thoughts: This is the only thing that has ever worked for me. Feel the physical sensations of the emotions and let them be there, but don’t get caught up in the thoughts/stories about those feelings. It takes practice!

Lida Richardson · Answer

How to Stop Ruminating (Dr. Michael J. Greenberg): To be super clear, I am super resistant to therapy writing, and I generally have a lot of skepticism about a lot of treatment. But a therapist sent me this article at a really hard OCD time, and I find it genuinely helpful and always send it to friends in bad rumination patterns. I find the concept of “stepping off the treadmill” really effective (I am a girl who NEEDS a metaphor), and I agree that not ruminating is actually the easier thing to do, if you can let yourself do it. Idk, the effectiveness of this kind of writing is super personal, but maybe it’ll work for you too!

RheaDM · Answer

Listening to music that leans into a spiral/mood brings me through it: Just like Emma Thomspons character in Love Actually, who uses Joni to teach her how to feel (photo of unrelated brush turkey deterrents)

Dylan · Answer

feel the discomfort and move forward: one of my affirmations for 2026

Dylan · Answer

Stop over-explaining yourself to people determined to misunderstand you: Sometimes I notice myself reverting to old people-pleasing patterns and extreme hypervigilance.

So I remind myself that it's important to practice sitting with the discomfort of the knowledge that some people may not like me or understand me.

And that's ok. It's not my job to convince them of who I am. I know who I am!

Dylan · Answer

Silly little mental health walks in nature: Just left the house for the first time in 9 days to go for a silly lil mental health walk in nature and found myself bawling my eyes out at this rainbow lorikeet just hanging outside his lil tree stump house. We stared into each other's eyes for a good 10 mins until he decided that was enough and retreated back inside his lil tree hole.

Dylan · Answer

Don't believe everything you think!: your thoughts aren't facts :)

Kayla · Answer

Temperature, Intense Exercise, Paced Breathing, Progressive Muscle Relaxation (TIPP): I was working with a BH professional on strategies to overcome intense bouts of worry. She shared this technique with me and I found it very practical and helpful!