There are times where overthinking a situation can get the best of you but if you are someone that is always overthinking things, even the conversation that they had weeks ago, this can be stressful.
Thinking about things over and over again can cause you to have images in your mind that make you feel stressed over the situation. This can cause you not to be able to function on other things in your life that you need to get done and it can make you have a bad day.
Worrying and Other Thoughts
When you overthink, you will have thought patterns that are negative. It can mean that you can’t get past things that happened to you in your past and you might say things like:
- I should have never said what I did in my meeting yesterday. Everyone thinks I am so dumb.
- I should have never quit my last job because I would have been less miserable than I am not.
- I’m insecure because of how my parents raised m.
- I know tomorrow when I do my interview that I’m going to humiliate myself.
- I’ll never get a promotion but everyone else will move up the ladder but me.
- I’ll never be able to retire, and I’ll never have enough money.
Just like other things that you need to change in your life, you have to change the way that you think about things. Your brain can be trained to have positive thoughts.
Here is what you can do to stop overthinking!
- Get Out of Your Thoughts
You might have a habit of holding on to your thoughts without even realizing it. Start paying attention to what you’re thinking so you can notice when there is a problem. When you start thinking of things that happened yesterday or you are having a conversation over and over again, do something that is productive. This can turn your negative thoughts into positive action.
- Solve Your Problems
Keeping your problems in your mind is never going to stop them. Instead of dwelling on them, figure out what kind of action you can take to stop the problem. Figure out what the problem is and if it’s something you can’t control, let it go. If you can change it, figure out how and do it.
- Challenge What You’re Thinking
Negative thoughts can fill your mind but if you challenge these negative thoughts then you can figure out where they are coming from. The emotions that you’re having will affect your ability to solve your problems. Do you have evidence that your thoughts are real? If not, let them go.
- Think About Your Situation
Take time to think about your situation in a logical way. Reflecting on this can help you to make different decisions in the future. Plan how you would do things differently if you could. Only give yourself about 20 minutes to think over these things and to worry about it, come up with a solution, etc., and then don’t think about it again.
Once your time is up, do something different and that way you don’t overthink it.
- Be Mindful
Mindfulness is important in everything that you do. Be mindful of what is happening to you in the now and stop focusing on the past and the future.
- Channel Your Brain Activity
The less you try to think of something the more likely it will come up. Once you start thinking of something negative, channel your brain with something else. Find something else to think about or to do that will distract you so that you can send your negative thoughts down a different path.
- Teach Your Brain
Teach your brain better mental health. Do this by training your brain to change negative thinking to something positive. The more you do this the more you will see that it will work, and you will feel more positive and stop overthinking everything.