What keeps people away from living the life they desire? Overthinking! An issue may start small, perhaps not even a problem, but then thinking about it repeatedly turns it into a significant, real problem. Sound familiar? Of course, it does!
When we start to overthink, it’s like overeating – it won’t end well. Overthinking a bad thing makes it worse. Overthinking a good thing can make it disappear in a second. Overthinking in life can turn us into spectators of our lives rather than living them, sabotaging all the good that happens to us. So, how can we help ourselves not to overthink and become a person who thinks smarter and lives a less fearful life?
Put Things into a Broader Perspective to Combat Overthinking
When something bothers us, and we overthink it, let’s put it into a broader perspective, asking whether it will be that important in five months or five years.
Set short-term limits for decision-making
Regardless of what bothers us in life, we need to make decisions about the problem, whether stopping a bad habit, ending a harmful relationship, or anything else. It’s best to set a specific timeframe by when we need to make a decision about a problem, and it’s best if it’s not a long period. For significant problems, a few days or even weeks may be needed, but for smaller ones, not much thought is required. For responding to an email, and performing daily tasks like washing dishes and cleaning, decisions should be made within half a minute to a minute, and for slightly bigger everyday problems, a decision should be made within about thirty minutes or by the end of the day at the latest.
Become a Person of Action: Moving Beyond Overthinking
Knowing that we will be a person of action every day helps us get used to it and start thinking less about things, and being more active instead. As we undertake initial small actions, we’ll get used to being a person of action and then apply it to bigger and bigger decisions.
Realize you can’t control everything
When we think about something 50 times over and over again, we want to reduce the risk of failure and not look naive. However, risk and naivety are parts of life, and stepping out of our comfort zone is essential for living. So, always remember, no matter how much we think, it’s not possible to predict all scenarios, and we can’t control everything.
Exercise: A Physical Antidote to Overthinking
In addition to engaging in mental exercises to sharpen your cognitive abilities, it’s equally important to incorporate physical activity into your routine. At first glance, the connection between physical exercise and reduced overthinking might not be immediately apparent. However, diving into a regular workout regimen offers more benefits than just physical fitness. Engaging in physical activity serves as an effective strategy for diverting your attention away from less significant concerns.
It does this by inducing relaxation and significantly boosting the production of positive neurotransmitters in your brain, such as endorphins and serotonin. These chemicals are key players in enhancing your mood and overall sense of well-being. By making exercise a consistent part of your life, you not only improve your physical health but also cultivate a more peaceful and focused mind, less prone to getting caught in the trap of overthinking. This holistic approach to wellness ensures a balanced life, where both mind and body are given equal priority, leading to a more centered, happier existence.
Spend more time in the present
If we focus on the present, on what’s right in front of us at every moment, we won’t have time to overthink about what was or what could be. It’s best to slow down with what we’re doing and think about what our actions do to our bodies. And when we catch ourselves overthinking something, we say: ‘Stop!’ and return to the present. It’s the only certainty we have; everything else is – overthinking.
