Overthinking is something that can be debilitating as you get stuck in your head and overthink every decision and interaction. It is constantly second-guessing, over analyzing situations and doubting yourself. You may notice you yourself having “What if?” or “Should” Or “Could” questions take over your thoughts.
In today’s videos I go through quick tips you can do starting today to stop your overthinking!
Overthinking comes from your lack of confidence in yourself and your decisions as well as fear and worries about how you will be seen as a person. As a young child, you may have been taught to doubt yourself or question yourself and it is a fear response and coping mechanism to protect yourself from your fears. You may think of every situation or scenario you can imagine to think of ways to protect yourself from those situations.
You may overthink because you can’t accept the truth of something so you will keep thinking about it to justify the answer you want. It can come from a lot of worries and you are overly thinking about it to cope with all your worries as it gives you a sense of control.
If you don’t have a place to talk about things or to release them from your mind it can also cause overthink. We can’t just keep things jumbled in our minds, we need a place to release or be able to feel like we are heard.
You may overthink because you are a highly sensitive person. Being a highly sensitive person is exactly what it sounds like. You are empathetic where you feel emotions deeply, you may be a lot more sensitive to sounds, smells, stimuli. Things are just a lot more intense to you and that sensory overload can cause you to overthink
Overthinking can be a hard habit to break as we can get stuck in our old habits as well as it’s easy to get sucked into that world where we spiral and keep entertaining those different negative scenarios. Even though it may be hard, it is not impossible! Here are a few quick tips that can help with that!
When the thoughts first come, make sure you are aware of them. Recognize that you are starting to over think and then call yourself out. “I’m overthinking again.”
If you are asking questions or overthinking different scenarios, ask yourself do I have the answer to that? If you don’t then you know to change your shift and focus on the information you do know. What can you do?
Let go of those what if questions. I know it can be hard but it is being used as an unhealthy coping mechanism and you are trying to replace it with healthier habits.
The thing with overthinking is that you can’t just get rid of it. You need to replace it. So by focusing on what can go right, it will help you move towards that direction rather than making irrational decisions or driving yourself insane thinking about what can go wrong. That way you feel more empowered rather than asking yourself “what if’s or should questions”, you ask yourself “what can I do?”
Even if something were to go wrong, you could challenge it and ask yourself what are the chances of it happening and what can you do about it moving forward if it is a likely thing to happen. Think of taking action rather than getting stuck in your head and feeling helpless and second-guessing.
Like I had mentioned earlier, sometimes we get stuck in our heads and we need to be heard or we need to get things out. It also is a way to help prioritize all the things you have had on your mind.
So next time you feel like you are overwhelmed or stuck in your head try journaling or reaching out to a friend. Journaling helps you become more self-aware and figure out your wants/needs as well as getting to the root of things. Reaching out to someone can give you comfort or a different perspective.
What do you guys think? Do you have any other tips? Do you struggle with overthinking? Leave it all in the comments below?
