Overthinking
While everyone overthinks situations once in a while, some people are plagued with a constant barrage of thoughts all the time. Chronic overthinkers rehash conversations they had yesterday, second-guess every decision they make, and imagine disastrous outcomes all day every day.
Thinking too much about something often involves more than words–overthinkers conjure up disastrous images too. Their minds resemble a movie where they imagine their car going off the road or they replay distressing thoughts and events over and over again. Thinking too much prevents them from getting anything done or getting out of their own heads. And it wreaks havoc on their mood often leaving them in a state of constant anguish.
While everyone overthinks things once in a while, some people just can’t ever seem to quiet the constant barrage of thoughts. Their inner monologue includes two destructive thought patterns—ruminating and worrying.
Ruminating involves rehashing the past:
- I shouldn’t have spoken up in the meeting today. Everyone looked at me like I was an idiot.
- I could have stuck it out at my old job. I would be happier if I would have just stayed there.
- My parents always said I wouldn’t amount to anything. And they were right.
Worrying involves negative—often catastrophic—predictions about the future:
- I’m going to embarrass myself tomorrow when I give that presentation. My hands will shake, my face will turn red, and everyone will see that I’m incompetent.
- I’ll never get promoted. It doesn’t matter what I do. It’s not going to happen.
- My spouse is going to find someone better than I am. I’m going to end up divorced and alone.
There is a lot of talk these days about how to detox our body but not much about how to detox the mind. And it’s the overthinking mind full of chaos that holds us back from moving forward in life. It’s the overthinking mind that makes us feel anxious and worried about the future. It’s the overthinking mind that we need to better control in order to stop worrying and start living.
Below is a list of suggestions from articles listed in the reference section as to how to stop worrying and calm that overthinking mind.
- Stop consuming the news.
Sometimes too much information can cause more stress than providing value in our life. Consider the amount of news you watch or how much you read online. Here’s the problem with consuming too much news. It causes our mind to think further and deeper about the topic that we read or hear about. Normally that’s not a bad thing, especially when we’re trying to understand the depth of something. But sometimes it causes a mind to burrow deeper into sometimes a worrisome place after hearing of all the uncertainty in the world around us. This can cause some of us to start worrying and overthinking about our future, career, relationships and life.
- Reduce stimulants (coffee, soda, energy drinks, etc.).
Giving up caffeine helps slow our overthinking helping our minds to become clearer and balanced. Reducing such stimulants can help to detox our minds because it helps not to have the ups and downs of caffeine anymore.
- Soak the mind with positive juices.
Our mind is a sponge. It absorbs almost everything it encounters. From the negative comment a work colleague made a year ago to some awful things we conjure up in our dreams, we can’t but help internalizing all the things our senses pick up. All the worries of the world get into our head and don’t seem to leave, causing us to overthink our lives and the actions we want to take.
Consider anytime your mind wanders into the realm of overthinking catch those thoughts and bring them back by putting in some positive thoughts. You could try doing this through either listening to podcasts or youtube videos that were inspirational and motivational in nature or by reading a book or a magazine article that was informative and inspirational. This allows us to make a choice of what goes into our head. Not letting the negativity start flowing.
- Get up and get to work on a goal, a project or a specific task.
A negative result of overthinking is that it slows us down, inhibiting our growth, limiting our ability to have love, good relationships, fun in the moment and the pursuit of success in a business or a career. How about turning those negative thoughts into effort and work? Taking action, doing something, working on something does wonders for your soul.
- Change your physical position.
Every time you start overthinking and get into a spiral try this: change your physical position — sit up, change posture — and do something physical.
- Notice when you’re stuck in your head.
Overthinking can become such a habit that you don’t even recognize when you’re doing it. Start paying attention to the way you think so you can become aware of the problem.
When you’re replaying events in your mind over and over, or worrying about things you can’t control, acknowledge that your thoughts aren’t productive. Thinking is only helpful when it leads to positive action.
- Keep the focus on problem-solving.
Dwelling on your problems isn’t helpful–but looking for solutions is. If it’s something you have some control over, consider how you can prevent the problem or challenge yourself to identify five potential solutions.
If it’s something you have no control over–like a natural disaster–think about the strategies you can use to cope with it. Focus on the things you can control, like your attitude and effort.
- Challenge your thoughts.
It’s easy to get carried away with negative thoughts. So before you conclude that calling in sick is going to get you fired, or that forgetting one deadline will cause you to become homeless, acknowledge that your thoughts may be exaggeratedly negative.
Remember that your emotions will interfere with your ability to look at situations objectively. Take a step back and look at the evidence. What evidence do you have that your thought is true? What evidence do you have that your thought isn’t true?
- Schedule time for reflection.
Stewing on your problems for long periods of time isn’t productive, but brief reflection can be helpful. Thinking about how you could do things differently or recognizing potential pitfalls to your plan, could help you perform better in the future.
Incorporate 20 minutes of “thinking time” into your daily schedule. During that time period let yourself worry, ruminate, or mull over whatever you want.
When your time is up, move onto something else. And when you start overthinking things outside of your scheduled thinking time, simply remind yourself that you’ll need to wait until your “thinking time” to address those issues in your mind.
- Change the channel.
Telling yourself to stop thinking about something will backfire. The more you try to prevent a thought from entering your brain, the more likely it is to keep popping up.
Change the channel in your brain by changing your activity. Exercise, engage in conversation on a completely different subject, or work on a project that distracts you. Doing something different will put an end to the barrage of negative thoughts.
- Train your brain.
Paying attention to the way you think can help you become more aware of your bad mental habits. With practice, you can train your brain to think differently. Over time, building healthier habits will help you build the mental muscle you need to become mentally stronger.
a.) Notice When You’re Thinking Too Much
Awareness is the first step in putting an end to overthinking. Start paying attention to the way you think. When you notice you’re re-playing events in your mind over and over, or worrying about things you can’t control, acknowledge that your thoughts aren’t productive.
b.) Challenge Your Thoughts
It’s easy to get carried away with negative thoughts. So before you conclude that calling in sick is going to get you fired, or that forgetting one deadline is going to cause you to become homeless, acknowledge that your thoughts may be exaggeratedly negative. Learn to recognize and replace thinking errors, before they work you up into a complete frenzy.
- Keep The Focus On Active Problem-Solving
Dwelling on your problems isn’t helpful–but looking for solutions is. Ask yourself what steps you can take to learn from a mistake or to avoid a future problem. Instead of asking why did this happen? Ask yourself what can I do about it?
The Dangers Off Overthinking
Thinking too much about things isn’t just a nuisance; it can take a serious toll on your well-being. Research finds that dwelling on your shortcomings, mistakes, and problems increases your risk of mental-health problems. And as your mental health declines, your tendency to ruminate increases, leading to a vicious cycle that is hard to break.
Studies also show that overthinking leads to serious emotional distress. To escape that distress, many overthinkers resort to unhealthy coping strategies, such as alcohol or food.
If you’re an overthinker, you likely already know you can’t sleep when your mind won’t shut off. Studies confirm this, finding that rumination and worry lead to fewer hours of sleep and poorer sleep quality.
Being an overthinker can be very taxing on our mental health. By trying a few of these solutions and becoming aware of the problem hopefully you will be able to get your overthinking to slow down and eventually be eliminated. As with most things being aware of the problem can be a large part of the solution.
References:
https://www.inc.com/amy-morin/6-ways-to-stop-overthinking-everything.html
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-miglani/mindfulness-practice_b_3976316.html