Stop Overthinking

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  • Overthinking is when you feel stressed over your perception that you cannot control your own thoughts. Usually, our brain ability to think helps us problem-solve but the opposite happens when thinking goes into overdrive mode.

  • Charactersitics of overthinking include: thoughts go around in circles, no tangible results obtained, and thoughts are intrusive.
  • Some of the symptoms that can be associated with overthinking:
    • You think about your own thoughts
    • You are concerned about many things
    • some thoughts keep coming back to you
    • You have a negative assessment of your own thoughts
  • Author assumes that for the rest of the book that overthinking is anxiety. We need to refrain from thinking that solving a problem is the way to deal with overthinking
  • When the brain is not engaged in a particular thought, it starts processing its place in the world and reprocessing thoughts
  • Stress is external pressure while the anxiety you feel as a result of this pressure is internal
  • Four strategies to dealing with stress
    • Avoid: Say that the busyness of a grocery store on a Saturday morning stresses you out. You can avoid this stressful situation by going shopping at a different time. While this example is simple and easy to spot, you want to be actively asking yourself if you can avoid a stressful situation without incurring any consequences. You should do that with every stressful situation you encounter. Same could be done with people. If a close family member is causing you stress when they come to stay at your place, offer them to stay a B&B.
    • Alter: if you cannot avoid a stressful situation, you should have a say in how the events that cause the stress unfold and as a result be able to alter it. Example include the below:
      • If consturction workers are making noise, ask to see if they can reduce the noise partially or at least during times where you have something important – eg: client call. Make your feelings known and do not suffer in silence
      • If shopping on a busy Saturday morning is both a must for you due to your schedule and also is stressful, see if you can reduce the stress by listening to a podcast while shopping.
    • Adapting to stress long term is a viable strategy too. It means altering your behavior, expectations, and actions to deal with stress more effectively. One strategy to adapting to stress would be to write stress journal entries. You can do that 3 times a week or as many times as you wish. Note in it the event, how you feel – on a scale from 1 to 10, how effective you’re feeling overall – on a scale too.
      Example: Feb 4, 2022. I received the news today that my best friend had a pretty bad car crash. I am feeling overwhelmed and sad. My mind is racing through the potential outcomes of this situation. Feeling 3/10 : apprehensive and tired. and I’m only 1/10 effective at work. I am avoiding replying to the text but I think it’s only making matters worse.
      • Writing journal entries can help you become more curious about the causes of the stress and also spot trends. You may decide to want to do this for only a period of time until the thought process that accompanies journaling becomes second-hand nature and you can learn from what yo’ure going through without the need to journal it.
        • What certain events tend to cause stress? are there precurosy set of events leading to it?
        • How do you feel each time you had to go through these stressful events?
        • What strategies might have worked? is there an inclination on your side to reacting towards stressful events of a certain kind or in general in a certain way? if yes, has the approach been effective?
        • Can you identify a level of stress that was comfortable for you and induced productivity?

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