How to Stop Overthinking
Get freedom from the state of overthinking which sucks the energy out of you
I used to be such an overthinker. I played out scenarios in my mind about what could happen and relived all the conversations blaming myself for what I said or didn’t say.
I was constantly dwelling on my mistakes.
I doubted my decisions.
I was worried about the future & things that were not in my control constantly.
It was so tiring. Have you felt like that?
Have you ever felt the weight of your thoughts so that you don’t have energy physically?
Reasons why you overthink
Ultimately, overthinking has deeper sources than just a negative thinking habit. The reasons for obsessive rumination about the past or future can be several:
Fear
You deep inside fear, anxiety, worry about not being good enough, failing, making mistakes, being judged by others, etc.
Lack of trust
You lack trust in yourself and a higher power. There is something beyond ourselves, and, however you call it, He knows the past, the present, and the future better than you do. And He has your best interests in mind because He loves you.
I call this power God, and seeing Him as my Heavenly Father helps me feel the sense of care, protection, and love in my life that is necessary for me to trust that I would not need to overthink everything. That I would not need to fear and worry.
Lack of self-esteem
You feel insecure about yourself. You feel not good enough. You doubt yourself. You fear and worry about what others think of you. This might come from some childhood and school years trauma. Once you re-frame what happened that hurt your self-esteem, you will be able to build confidence more authentically.
And to truly get rid of the overthinking, you must solve these deeper underlying issues — why you have fear, doubt yourself, lack of trust, etc. Refer to other articles of mine to learn more about those.
Psychologists explain how there are two types of people:
Those who have a bias towards action will most likely take some action whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Those who have a bias towards thinking — when something happens and a moment of change or opportunity hits, they tend to hesitate. They tend to overthink.
And unfortunately, most people have more bias toward thinking than towards action.
However, that is something that can be changed.
I am an example of that. Seriously, I cannot explain how much overthinking was a problem for me.
But that’s right — it was a problem.
What to do?
Here’s what I did to lessen the trouble of overthinking in my life:
Be an observer
Start by observing in which situations you tend to slip into the obsessive rumination about what happened in the past or what you said or the worry about outcomes you cannot control.
Understand where does it come from
I shared earlier in the text some common reasons for overthinking. Refer back to that. What could be your reason for whatever you are overthinking the most about?
What good can happen?
Challenge yourself to see what good could happen, not only what could go wrong? How could the situation have a benefit too?
Take action
Get yourself out of the overthinking bubble by start taking immediate action. Even if that is not related to what you are worrying about. Go out for a walk. Start dancing to your favorite song. Go for a run. Organize some things around the house. Watch a movie with friends.
Make a decision once, and then make it right
If you obsess over making decisions because you are afraid to make the wrong decisions, then make this your new motto for your decision-making. Learn to see your decision as something you made at that time based on your best abilities and best assessment of the situation.
Once you make it, even if it turns out it wasn’t the best decision, see how you can make it right. That is something you can control. And, believe me, if you focus on how you can make it right, you will be able to get at least something positive out of the situation.
Forgive yourself for your mistakes
The art of letting go isn’t just something that sounds cool. It is something that is genuinely needed to live purposefully. Without forgiving yourself, you cannot move on, which means you can’t successfully achieve any of your future goals.
Self-compassion is the way to achieve your goals instead of self-judgment. Without letting go, you’re stuck — you can’t get forward.
Accept yourself as who you are
That means forgiving yourself of your past mistakes and learning to love yourself with your flaws and weaknesses. They make you human, make you unique, and provide you with motivation to learn, grow, and develop yourself further. How you overcome challenges in your life, setbacks, and failures, can serve others as an example and inspiration.
Write out how you feel
Whenever you feel like slipping into overthinking again, take a piece of paper and a pen, and write out how you think and what you think. When seeing that on paper, you will often see how the things you worry about are more solvable than they seemed in your head.
Work on your self-worth
When you change how you see yourself, that can dramatically change every aspect of your life. Instead of seeing yourself as not good enough, reprogram your subconscious mind to consider yourself unconditionally worthy despite mistakes and failure.
Do the Tapping
EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) or Tapping is a great and quick way how to release stuck emotions, overwhelm, anxiety, worry, etc. As usually overthinking is caused by worrying, fear, and other negative emotions and states. Tapping involves applying gentle pressure with tapping on the eight meridian points that are also used in acupuncture. You can see an example here.
In Conclusion
It is relatively easy to overcome overthinking when growing yourself as a person. When you are working on yourself to release self-sabotaging tendencies, such as self-doubt, perfectionism, people-pleasing, etc., the incredible by-product of this inner work is increased self-confidence and much less overthinking. More confident action and less fear, worry, procrastination, and overthinking.
You can also follow me on Instagram — I share valuable content and updates there, and most of it is related to changing limiting beliefs.
If you are ready to take a leap and finally let go of self-sabotage, including overthinking, apply for a Breakthrough Session with me.
Thank you for reading! 💛
Remember you are the creator of your own life! So be a conscious creator!
With love,
Laine
