Are you overthinking everything? Find out how to stop!
Overthinking can have a big negative impact on your life and can make you drain mentally. How to stop overthinking and worrying about the future is the main topic of our article.
Most people overthink because they are afraid of the future, they constantly ask themself what can probably go wrong. These states of mind make us anxious, standing in one place, and afraid to rake an action.
Overthinking is defined as the act of thinking about something too much, in a way that is not useful.***
To overcome overthinking and stop worrying you must take action. Every thought or action you take in life is a result of your beliefs and environment. By changing your thought you are changing the way you live and see things.
Here is a list of 10 tips that will help you to stop overthinking and take control of your life. If you have a problem with your negative thoughts spinning through your head non-stop, read these tips, and try to adopt and practice them in your daily life.
They really can help you to stop overthinking and see the bright side of life.
How To Stop Overthinking
1. Be aware when it is happening
Before you start to fight this habit, first you need to learn to be aware of it when is happening.
Any time when you find yourself feeling stressed or anxious, slow down, take a step back, and look at the situation and how you are responding.
The core of every change is to be aware of what you are doing and why you want to change that.
2. Stop setting yourself for a stressful day
No one can’t avoid stressful days but you can minimize them in your month and year by getting a good start of the day and by not setting yourself for necessarily overthinking stress and suffering. *
Maybe you would think now, oh not again with these morning routines or how to start your mornings.
But in reality, it really matters how you start your day. We recommend reading this morning routine that will transform your life and start adopting these habits to see the changes they will help you to make in your life.
Three main things that can help you to stop overthinking are:
Good start of the day – This phrase is mentioned everywhere for good reason. It is important to start your day with positive thoughts.
Stressed mornings lead to a stressed day, and consuming negative information first thing in the morning leads to pessimistic thoughts during the rest of the day.
Stay positive, read something uplifting, or listen to a podcast while you are having breakfast, move your body in the morning to get that energy flow through you. Try it it will make a difference.
Finish task and a small break – By finishing single tasks and after every finished important thing you give yourself a little break, not only will it help you to be more focused.
Even more, you will be happier that you achieved something (getting things done) is one thing that will help you to be more relaxed and stop overthinking.
A relaxed mindset will help you to think clearly and decisively. You will get things done on time and the level of stress will be very low.
Minimize distractions – Checking your mail, Facebook, or how your results are from what you are doing is not a good thing if you want to stop overthinking. It just makes your mind clutter and harder to think.
Our brain always prefers fun things. We may leave our tasks, scroll through Facebook, or chat with over friends and then we have not time to finish our tasks. Then it comes to stress and overthinking.
So little distractions, focus on the task you are doing, less stress, and less overthinking and worrying. It is so simple to say but hard to do in real life.
3. Don’t overthink about the past
Do not waste your precious energy thinking of the past and asking questions like: “What if..”, “I wish..” or “I should have..”
The past can’t be changed and you should see that as a season learned, or positive experience instead of regarding something that you’ve didn’t do.
If you want to know how to stop overthinking this is the one thing that you should learn to put away.
Accept the past for what it was, and you will relieve yourself from its weight. By accepting that you will start using energy for the present moment and by that you will change your mindset and how things are.
By doing this you are clearing mental space that was occupied from overthinking and past, you will be opened for new things and have a positive mindset.
4. Visualize all the things that can go right
Don’t think of what can go wrong, think of what can go right. One of the things that are stopping you from overthinking and worrying is one emotion: “fear”.
If you focus on this emotion and every time you focus on the negative things that might happen, it is easy to become paralyzed.
Next time when this happens, make a change of focus, stop, and visualize all the things that can go right and try to keep those thoughts present.
5. Will this matter in 5 years?
Minor things in life can have a big impact on your thinking pattern. So when you are overthinking and worrying about something, ask yourself:
Will this matter in 5 years? Or even in one week from now?
Widening the perspective and asking yourself this simple question can help you to get out of the overthinking and worrying pattern.
Maybe a small thing but it can help you to stop thinking about something and start focusing on something else that matters to you.
6. Write down solutions not problems
Here is one simple exercise that you can do: When you feel overwhelmed, sit down and write all your thoughts in your head. And then shift your attention to the solutions.
Tony Robbins an American author, public speaker, life coach, and philanthropist says:
“Energy flows where attention goes”
These thoughts and problems that you’ve put on paper are the ones that are creating your stress and anxiety. After putting them on paper it is time to brainstorm solutions.
Is your work causing you stress? Okay good. Now, what changes can you make to reduce it? Is your stagnation in life causing you anxiety? Ok good. What steps can you take to get more clarity on the goals you need to pursue?***
If you find at least one solution to your problems that are dancing in your brain, that means that you’ve taken time to think and walk through your thoughts. You’ve taken action and you are one step away from overthinking.
By writing down your thoughts you are getting them out of your head and it is easy to observe them and be aware of them.
And by shifting your attention to solutions you can easily relieve those negative and worrying thoughts.
7. Be aware that you can’t control everything
If you wonder how to stop overthinking and you try to think things 30 times it is not a good way. That is trying to control everything. That is when you try to cover every eventuality so you don’t risk making a mistake, fail or look bad.
Everyone makes a mistake. Successful people make mistakes. The difference is that they learn from their mistakes. It is a process of learning or so-called experience.
Stop trying to control everything. You can’t do that. It will make just bigger pressure on you and increase anxiety and negative thoughts.
“When you find yourself worrying, take a minute to examine the things you have control over.”
Amy Morin
8. Take an action
If you get stuck inside your head with one thought over and over again, it is the worst thing that you can do to yourself. This is the core of everything that prevents you from taking action.
Like everything in love if you want to improve something start with practice. As Bruce Lee famous actor said:
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
So, start practice making decisions and sticking with them.
Start with small decisions and take fast action. For example, what to choose ice cream strawberry or chocolate, choose fast don’t overthink. Cook dinner or order pizzas, choose at the moment.
This is one of the ways that you can practice making decisions fast and this helps to become a person of action.
9. Spend time in nature
Psychology Sciences in their article The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting With Nature reveal that you become calmer and relaxed after spending some time in nature.
You don’t have to go to the mountains or somewhere far, even a five-minute walk in a park can have a big impact on your mental health.
Walk-in a park, exercise, and digital detox for a couple of hours are three things that you can do to clear your mind and stop overthinking.
10. Spend more time with people who have positive effects on you
People that you surround yourself with and the environment around you have a big impact on your thoughts. How to stop overthinking if you spend time with people who have negative thoughts about themself, they see no bright future.
Not just people think about things in your daily life. What you read, what movies or series you see, what music you listen to.
Do they encourage you or just make you think more negatively about yourself and your life.
Search for more positive books try to read more books for personal development, it is easy today to find great TED talks that will help you to see the bright side of life.
Take an action, negative thoughts can’t go away by themself, it takes practice and action to replace them with positive ones.
Final thoughts on how to stop overthinking and worrying
First, become aware and ask yourself these questions: “Do I overthink everything?” and if the answer is yes, then ask yourself: ” How to stop overthinking?”
Some of the answers to these questions we’ve presented here. Every one of us overthinks sometimes, or more precisely every day. But the real difference is that something that we do from time to time or it is daily.
Don’t get lost in thoughts like what you could have, would have, and should have done differently. This mental pressure can seriously impact your quality of life.
An overthinking can make your life miserable. Adopt these tips mentioned above and stop spending too much time in your head on things that don’t matter or you can’t control.