TOPIC:- OVERTHINKING
Overthinking doesn't sound so bad on the surface--thinking
is good, right?
But overthinking can cause problems.
When you overthink, your judgments get cloudy and your
stress gets elevated. You spend too much time in the negative. It can become
difficult to act.
If this feels like familiar territory to you, here are 10
simple ideas to free yourself from overthinking.
1. Awareness is
the beginning of change.
Before you can begin to address or cope with your habit of
overthinking, you need to learn to be aware of it when it's happening. Any time
you find yourself doubting or feeling stressed or anxious, step back and look
at the situation and how you're responding. In that moment of awareness is the
seed of the change you want to make.
2. Don't think of
what can go wrong, but what can go right.
In many cases, overthinking is caused by a single emotion:
fear. When you focus on all the negative things that might happen, it's easy to
become paralyzed. Next time you sense that you starting to spiral in that
direction, stop. Visualize all the things that can go right and keep those
thoughts present and up front.
3. Distract
yourself into happiness.
Sometimes it's helpful to have a way to distract yourself
with happy, positive, healthy alternatives. Things like mediation, dancing,
exercise, learning an instrument, knitting, drawing, and painting can distance
you from the issues enough to shut down the overanalysis.
4. Put things into
perspective.
It's always easy to make things bigger and more negative
than they need to be. The next time you catch yourself making a mountain out of
a molehill, ask yourself how much it will matter in five years. Or, for that
matter, next month. Just this simple question, changing up the time frame, can
help shut down overthinking.
5. Stop waiting
for perfection.
This is a big one. For all of us who are waiting for
perfection, we can stop waiting right now. Being ambitious is great but aiming
for perfection is unrealistic, impractical, and debilitating. The moment you
start thinking "This needs to be perfect" is the moment you need to
remind yourself, "Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making
progress."
6. Change your
view of fear.
Whether you're afraid because you've failed in the past, or
you're fearful of trying or overgeneralizing some other failure, remember that
just because things did not work out before does not mean that has to be the
outcome every time. Remember, every opportunity is a new beginning, a place to
start again.
7. Put a timer to
work.
Give yourself a boundary. Set a timer for five minutes and
give yourself that time to think, worry, and analyze. Once the timer goes off,
spend 10 minutes with a pen and paper, writing down all the things that are
worrying you, stressing you, or giving you anxiety. Let it rip. When the 10
minutes is up, throw the paper out and move on--preferably to something fun.
8. Realize you
can't predict the future.
No one can predict the future; all we have is now. If you
spend the present moment worrying about the future, you are robbing yourself of
your time now. Spending time on the future is simply not productive. Spend that
time instead on things that give you joy.
9. Accept your
best.
The fear that grounds overthinking is often based in feeling
that you aren't good enough--not smart enough or hardworking enough or
dedicated enough. Once you've given an effort your best, accept it as such and
know that, while success may depend in part on some things you can't control,
you've done what you could do.
10. Be grateful.
Overthinking
is something that can happen to anyone. But if you have a great system for
dealing with it you can at least ward off some of the negative, anxious,
stressful thinking and turn it into something useful, productive, and
effective.
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