Conquer the Overthinking
How often have you been stuck in a repeating cycle of thoughts that makes you feel even more anxious and stressed?
Well, you’re not alone because it happens to everyone.
Know what’s happening when you’re overthinking.
Understanding the impact of overthinking is super important because it helps you see why overthinking can lead to feeling overwhelmed, stressed, worried, and anxious.
When you overthink, your mind gets stuck on a bunch of thoughts, making it hard to find clarity or consider other perspectives and solutions.
In psychotherapy, this is called Cognitive Fusion, where you're basically glued to your thoughts. Check out this informative video that uses the "Hands as Thoughts" metaphor to explain it visually.
Identify the factors that are contributing and causing you to overthink.
Overthinking often happens when we're feeling stressed or anxious. Let's start by figuring out what's making you feel this way so we can address the root causes.
First, let's check if you're taking care of your basic needs according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Have you been getting enough food, sleep, and movement?
For instance, if you've been struggling to get consistent sleep, that could be making you overthink because your mind and body are low on energy, making it harder to think clearly.
As you move up the hierarchy of needs, consider which needs haven't been fulfilled or feel unstable so that you can figure out how to take care of those needs first.
Identify the types of thoughts you frequently experience and get fixated on.
Overthinking is like a super-fast train on a never-ending loop, going round and round. You can slow down that train of overthinking to help clear your mind by identifying and naming your most triggering thoughts.
*If you do a Google Search of “Cognitive Distortions”, you’ll find there are up to 15 different types.
But to keep it simple, here are 8 common types of triggering thoughts that everyone experiences:
1. Catastrophizing: Blowing things out of proportion and imagining the worst outcomes for negative events.
2. All-or-nothing thinking: Seeing things in extremes, as either all good or all bad, without considering the middle ground.
3. 'Should' statements: Placing unrealistic expectations and rules on yourself and others causes unnecessary pressure.
4. Personalization: Taking too much responsibility for negative events and blaming yourself excessively.
5. Mind-reading: Assuming you know what others are thinking without real evidence, leading to misunderstandings.
6. "It's not fair": Focusing too much on perceived injustices and unfairness can lead to feelings of resentment.
7. Emotional Reasoning: Letting emotions dictate your reality without considering other perspectives or evidence.
8. Probability overestimation: Thinking that something bad is more likely to happen than it really is.
Click here to read more about these types of thoughts.
💪🏼 Put it into Practice!
What are the factors that are contributing to
What are the most common triggering thoughts that you experience?
Practice noticing and naming the type of overthinking you experience throughout your day. This will help you pause in the moment and slow down the overthinking.
