This episode of the Vedge Your Best podcast is all about cognitive distortions–irrational ways of thinking that can distort your perception of reality.

I discuss 10 common cognitive distortions:

1. All-or-nothing thinking  Viewing things in absolute terms, like seeing oneself as a complete failure for a single mistake.
2. Overgeneralization  Drawing broad conclusions from a single incident.
3. Mental filter  Focusing only on the negatives and ignoring the positives.
4. Discounting the positive  Rejecting positive experiences as insignificant.
5. Jumping to conclusions  Making negative interpretations without evidence.
6. Catastrophizing  Blowing things out of proportion.
7. Emotional reasoning  Believing that feelings reflect objective reality.
8. Should statements  Motivating oneself with “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts.”
9. Labeling and mislabeling  Attaching negative labels to oneself or others.
10. Personalization  Assuming responsibility for things outside one’s control.

These distortions can impact various aspects of life, including the transition to a vegan lifestyle. It’s important to recognize and challenge these distortions to avoid being unnecessarily hard on yourself and to focus on learning and growth instead of self-criticism.