Why are you overthinking?
With today’s climate, it’s easier than ever to let your fears overtake our minds and it’s even easier to let them extend their stay there! Over-thinking is a pandemic worst than COVID, this widespread obsessing has become a disease of the mind.
A study from the University of Michigan found that 73% of adults between the ages of 25 and 35 overthink, as do 52% of 45- to 55-year-olds. Resulting in increases in chances of depression, alcoholism, and suicide.
These are significant data.
Overthinking starts when the ‘fight or flight’ mindset is activated, fears make their way inside your mind. Slowly the fears transform into stress, they grow and transform into anxiety.
All of a sudden, you are stuck in this cycle.
The more fearful and negative thoughts you have, the more fear and negativity you bring to your life. This becomes your new ‘normal’ and a new way of perceiving life!
The cherry on top is when you convince yourself that over-thinking is a real and important part of yourself. You start to believe that over-thinking serves you to make good decisions, and it becomes a new part of your personality!
Truth is, the more we worry about something, you make the problem worst than its reality. Being addicted to overthinking, your mind feeds on a ‘fearful way of thinking’. You’ll need more ‘negative fuel’, day in and day out.
Having this negativity mindset keeps your mind falsely ‘busy’. Doing so, you nourish your ego, and you start feeling important because you are convinced that you can create all these scenarios that are running around in your mind. The reality is that our ‘catastrophic scenarios’ rarely come to reality. These mental images give your ego a false sense of control.
When you think you can control things, your security needs are falsely met. As you are acting out of fear, you repeat the same pattern as before.
Fear is guiding your life.
What are the consequences of over-thinking?
You are less likely to take action
In the process of overthinking, you get stuck. You freeze and you stay where you are without taking actions.
Remember that when you don’t take action, you‘might’ prevent failure ( what society calls failure, what I call it learning), but the reality is by taking that path, you’ll never succeed either. When you don’t grow, you allow yourself to die slowly.
When you are caught in all the negative thoughts, the decision that you take will be based on fears, and would therefore not serve your desired outcome.
When your mind has so many negative outputs dancing around, your mind becomes confused, and lose touch to which ‘options’ to pick up in this chaotic negative mindset…
You stay in this harmful process- over and over again.
You become less creative
When your mind is busy overthinking, your focus is scattered, which makes you more likely to sabotage good opportunities that could help you achieve your desired goals.
In this mental state, you don’t give your brain the space to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions.
Overthinking is tiring
Over-thinking increases the production of Cortisol ( stress hormone) in your brain, increasing your level of stress. This brings you a step closer to the opportunity for a burnout.
It’s simple, yet we spend most of our every day ignoring the clear signs our minds try to send us.
Insomnia here I come
Although you might be sleepy all through the day, you’re wide awake at night! When your mind is too full, one of the first things that will be affected is the quality of your sleep…
When you’re over-thinking, your heart rate gets higher, your mind keeps stays active, and you simply cannot seem to close your eyes….
By subtracting sleep, you allow your energy to drop, you are more exhausted, fearful thoughts lurk once again, and this makes it all harder to take action…
Perpetuating the same cycle.
Your appetite will suffer
When the stress hormones kick in ( cortisol), your appetite will feel the side effects.
You will either stop eating or eat anything.
Eat your feelings away and boom… Bad habits overtake your routine. Making it even harder to escape this negative mindset as you have destroyed your boundaries and internal sources of control.
Here are 4 ways to control your overthinking habits
Awareness
As always to change any habits you need to be aware of them. Awareness is the key to all change.
When you are aware of something that you wish to change, celebrate! It means that growth and transformation are coming. Going out of your comfort zone is always a good sign, change is movement, movement is growth, growth is the way to higher standards of living!
Meditation
Meditation is my way of grounding myself; I can not go on with my day without my 1hrs morning meditation and my journaling.
Meditation helps to relax, lower your heart rates, regulate your breathing, and re-centers you with your energy center. Morning meditation often feels like a reset button for me to start every day with a fresh mind.
Meditating helps you to let go and release the negative energy you’re unconsciously holding on to.
Worry list
Write down a ‘worry list’ ( on physical paper preferably ).
Write down the reasons WHY you worried so much.
Depersonalize these worried, visualize yourself as an external party and answer these questions: “Is what I am doing over-thinking? Is it worth the stress?”
Knowing this, what would be the REAL worst-case scenario of these worries?
You will probably never die because of your worries…
Remember, when you cannot have control over something in life, let it go.
You don’t have to worry about something which you can not control the outcomes. Doing so, you give yourself the ability to live your life with the flow and the unknown in all circumstances in life. A powerful mindset to overcome adversity and take action in things you CAN change.
Speak to a friend
Last but not least, talk with someone you love, a friend, a co-worker, someone who is outside the situation.
Get an outside perspective, you can realize quickly that your mind plays dramatic scenarios of reality. Connecting with a friend will also help you to connect with the essence of life, and you will remember what life is all about: true connection, love, and gratefulness.
What truly matters!
Don’t have anyone you feel like you can open up about your self improvement journey, why not speak to a mindset coach that can guide you in the wonderful adventure. Schedule a Free Breakthrough Session here 🙂
Overcoming Overthinking for Greater Happiness
Overcoming over-analyzing can lead us to greater happiness, taking actions, starting that new business venture you’ve been dreaming about for all these years. If you want to make the permanent change to get rid of your Over-thinking habit, I highly recommend you schedule a Free Mindset Coaching Breakthrough session with me so we can get you started on your self-development journey! What I love about these sessions is that it allows me to give you personalized help that digs through the REAL issues you’re facing. Seeing my client’s transformation is truly astonishing and I can only hope to give you this same self-actualization gift as so many of my clients.
“Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hope you’re having a wonderful week! Let me know if you’d be interested in any other topics for upcoming blogs 🙂
-Vero
Content that might interest you
by Veronique Run Team 21 May 2020
by Veronique Run Team 15 Apr 2020
by Veronique Run Team 9 Apr 2020