Your Thoughts Are Not the Truth: What Anxiety Doesn’t Want You to Know

There was a time when I believed every thought my brain threw at me.

“You’re ugly.”
“No one likes you.”
“Everything is going to fall apart.”
“Something terrible is about to happen.”

Anxiety can be incredibly convincing. It doesn’t whisper. It shouts. And when you’re in the thick of it, it’s hard to imagine that what you’re thinking might not be real.

I remember a time in my 20s when I was working a shift and felt so overwhelmed by my thoughts that I couldn’t stay. I called my grandma to pick me up and take me straight to the psychiatrist. I truly believed that the only thing that could save me was medication. Her magic pills, I thought, would rescue me from the storm happening in my head and body.

Back then, I didn’t know anything about anxiety. I didn’t know what a trigger was. I didn’t have coping tools. I didn’t understand that I could question the voice in my head. And I definitely didn’t know that I didn’t have to believe everything I thought.

My life felt like it was falling apart. And in many ways, it was.

Anxiety Lies But It Sounds Like the Truth

Anxiety has a way of taking your deepest fears and dressing them up like facts. It doesn’t feel like you’re having a thought. It feels like you’re hearing the truth about who you are and what’s going to happen.

And when you don’t know how to separate thought from truth, it’s incredibly painful. You start to resent your own brain. You feel broken, scared, and alone.

But here’s what I want you to know, and what I wish someone had told me back then:
Your thoughts are not the truth. They are not facts. They are just thoughts.

Some thoughts are helpful. Some are neutral. Some are cruel. And some are just the anxious part of your brain trying, and failing, to keep you safe.

Healing Came Slowly But It Came

My healing didn’t happen in a single therapy session or from one prescription. It came through a lot of hard work, everyday changes, learning to question my thoughts, and building coping skills from the ground up.

I had to learn to say, “This is just a thought. It’s not a prophecy.”
I had to create space between the thought and the reaction.
I had to show compassion to myself, even when I didn’t feel like I deserved it.

And over time, those thoughts that used to control me started losing their grip.

Now I Help Others Find Their Way Out

This is why I pour so much heart into my work as a therapist. I know what it feels like to be consumed by anxiety. I know the shame, the fear, the isolation. And I also know, deeply and personally, that there is a way out.

Now, 20 years later, I get to sit with people who are where I was. I get to walk alongside them as they start questioning their anxious thoughts, building tools, and reclaiming their lives.

And every time I witness someone begin to believe they are not their thoughts, it reminds me why this work matters so much.

You Don’t Have to Believe Everything You Think

If you’re struggling right now, if your mind is feeding you a steady diet of fear, self-criticism, and worst-case scenarios, I want you to try saying this to yourself:

“This is just a thought. I don’t have to believe it.”

It might feel strange at first. But even that little bit of space can be the beginning of something powerful.

You are not your anxiety.
You are not your thoughts.
You are so much more, and you’re not alone.

If you’re ready to begin separating fact from fear, I’d be honored to support you. There is a way forward, and you deserve to find it.