Habits That Ruin Your Day: Overthinking

What Is Overthinking?

You may not have noticed it, but it's always there. It makes you constantly think about the things that happen in your life, even the good ones:

If it's a good thing, you'll dissect it until you find something bad in what's happened to you, looking for a hidden meaning that doesn't simply not have.

If it's a bad thing, you'll analyze it over and over again, looking for a way to "fix" something that can't be changed.

This custom is called "overthinking". I affectionately call it looping, because they are usually thoughts that are repeated over and over in your head, as if they were mounted on a Ferris wheel passing over and over again through the same point.

I would be very happy to know that it doesn't happen to you, but generally we all tend to "overthink" aspects of our lives: make decisions, regret decisions we think are wrong, uncertainty about the future...

But Is It So Bad To Think Too Much?

Are you telling me to stop thinking? What is a simple? No, nothing could be further from my intention: thinking less doesn't make you simple, but it will simplify your life 🙂

As Augusto Cury, a Brazilian psychiatrist, says: "Thinking is excellent; thinking too much is terrible.

The articles I've read on this subject usually state that overthinking ruins your day and doesn't let you advance in life, since spending too much time thinking about what to do or how to do it prevents you from taking action and doesn't let you enjoy the present.

Leaving aside the romantic motives of the "carpe diem" type, the truth is that overthinking ends up having physical repercussions of stress and anxiety: insomnia, irritability, suffering (anticipated and free), forgetfulness, tachycardia, gastroenteritis, etc.

Doesn't it happen to you that after a day of thinking about a problem, you're with a broken stomach, you crawl home with a terrible headache? And on top of that you can't sleep because you still don't have the solution you want, because it almost doesn't need to be said, but overthinking takes negative and catastrophic thoughts by the hand.

Those who think too much "steal vital energy from the cerebral cortex and feel excessive fatigue without having done physical exercise". In short, it leaves you without the energy you need to be happy, and it makes you live in half.

What Can You Do To Avoid It?

Stop thinking for at least 5 minutes a day, a huge task that requires a lot of practice. Here are some tips that I have incorporated into my daily life and that I find useful.

Emergency Solutions

Be aware that you're overthinking.

Detecting that you are overthinking an issue is an achievement. If you are aware of the problem, you can fix it, otherwise it will stay there consuming you.

1. Thought Stop

Mª Jesús Álava Reyes, psychologist, discovered what is called a thought stop. It consists in finding a word "Totem" for you as "enough", "stop!", when you detect a rebellious thought.

Once you've regained control of your mind for a few seconds, try to focus on something else: reciting your favorite actor's movies, or counting from 1000 to 0 subtracting 7.

That has never worked for me: I am overwhelmed when I make a mistake in the calculations 🙂 What works for me is to sing something internally. Everyone has their own tricks.

2. Focus On Your Breathing

When you have managed to stop the thought wave with the previous step, it is good to close your eyes and concentrate for a few minutes on your breathing.

Air coming in, air coming out, how it fills the lungs... that's all there is in the world at the moment.

From my experience, I heartily recommend meditating. Or just stop for a few minutes a day and just concentrate on breathing. Search YouTube for videos of mindfulness sessions that will help you at the beginning. Even if you don't get it from day one, don't give up.

Medium/Long Term Solutions

1. Do Sport

I sincerely believe that the endorphins that are generated during sport get along poorly with "overthinking". Go for a run, lift some weight, do some push-ups, take a route through the countryside...

2. Try To Figure Out What Causes That Excess.

What situations worry you or cause you anxiety? What scares you?

3. Accept That Perfection Does Not Exist

It's okay to be a perfectionist, but don't beat yourself up with what you might have said or done in that situation. It's okay to reflect on similar situations, but you can't change what happened, let it go.

4. Do It. Making Mistakes Is Human And Part Of Life.

One of the questions that most makes us overthink, and paralyses us, is to make a decision.

We are so afraid of making mistakes and failing (from our point of view, of course), that we give thousands of turns to the possible alternatives. But if we make a decision and make a mistake, what is the worst that can happen?

You see, a few years ago I invested in a company, lost everything I had saved since I started working and some health as a result of stress.

Sometimes it comes to mind. I was wrong, yes. So what? It's something I won't forget, but life goes on, and spend the day lamenting what could have been and wasn't, I'll miss the opportunity to enjoy precious moments with the people I love.

If you never take action, you're never wrong, but to stop doing things you want to do for fear of making a mistake is like going through life on tiptoe.

Be happy.