“Trust in the moment and allow life to unfold around you” (quote) – that is easier said than done for those who overthink. Letting go and letting anything transpire does not seem plausible to someone with the overthinking dysfunction.
That is when an individual puts too much thought into something and too much time into that thought. It also goes by “analysis paralysis” because these people are stranded in their thoughts, preventing them from taking the necessary steps to find a solution to the issues.
The person feels powerless with a mind closed to the possibility of a positive outcome. Someone with a healthy mindset is open and empowered. The disorder is common, leading to mental health problems including emotional distress, anxiety/depression, and self-destructive behavior.
Strategies To Work Through Overthinking
Each person can have a unique reason for their overthinking, including the methods used for caregiving in their early childhood. Depending on the circumstances, there could be feelings of inadequacy, lack of confidence, or self-doubt concerning personal abilities based on parenting skills.
When behaviors are learned from early (pre-school), these can be tough to work through but not impossible. It takes more persistence, patience, and likely working in a therapeutic atmosphere like LinqCare to unlearn inappropriate concepts and relearn healthy thought processes plus coping skills when the negativity attempts to sneak in. Some effective strategies to try:
● Break out of your own head
The primary component to serve as the potential remedy for overthinking is to break out from your own head. You might believe it is easier said than done, but no, you can do it. It just merely takes getting involved in anything to interrupt the overthinking cycle.
You know precisely when it is happening, so it is easy to get up and go for a jog to bring yourself into your body and out of your mind. You could do something creative, write in your journal, do some cooking, visit a friend, engage in a puzzle, piddle around the house.
Your brain will be too busy concentrating on the activity to have time to think. Each time you feel yourself going into a deep thought process, break away.
● Engage the senses to distract the thoughts
When you engage your senses, the brain relaxes. You can take a warm bath filled with essential oils that smell good, along with some soft music to listen to while you soak.
Or you can massage some topical lotion into your skin with a meditation soundtrack playing while you drift off to sleep. Anything that will attune the senses allowing your mind to have some time off.
● Learn to train your thoughts
Mindfulness is a technique where you train the brain to be present at the moment. You do not think about past events or allow your brain to go into the future; instead, you stay focused on what is happening in the here and now.
With this methodology, a person recognizes that thoughts are not facts but simply ideas that we allow ourselves to believe.
You begin to control these ideas and can slow them down, allowing them to pass through without negatively affecting you. It takes time to learn the process, especially with someone who tends to overthink or with a busy mind, but it is exceptionally beneficial once you know how to do it. Go to https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-ways-to-stay-motivated_b_4941277/ to learn ways to keep yourself motivated.
● Write
Not everyone enjoys writing, but honestly, once you start putting everything in your brain on paper and it is out of your head, you can then let it go. Whether you choose to keep it in a notebook or even take the page out and burn it.
The ideas and perspectives look much different when you read them back to yourself after writing them down. It can even bring just a shed of relief to let it go to this degree.
If you are not someone who enjoys writing, record your thoughts on a tape recorder. Just vent it all out onto the tape and then play it back. That can be extraordinarily therapeutic.
● Seek counseling
In many cases, it would be quite beneficial to reach out to a counselor if overthinking is consuming each day, spiraling your mental health into disarray. Professional therapists can teach you how to cope with the disorder to live presently and stop worrying over the future.
Final Thought
It might seem as though overthinking will rob you of your happiness. Read here for guidance on being happy. In reality, it does until you reach a point where you’ve had enough, and you want to seek help. Mental health professionals can guide you to a healthier position in your life along with some of these coping methods.
It might be a tough habit to break, but it is not impossible. You have to stay strong and not ever give up
Speaks from heart, always too passionate and driven by emotions. Spins the words with kindness & sharpness, intriguing your ever-inscrutable minds.
