15 THINGS TO DO TO STOP YOURSELF FROM OVER THINKING EVERYTHING

Hey loves, I hope you’ve all been doing well. So this past few weeks I found myself over thinking so that was what inspired this post. So I’m sharing things you could do to stop over thinking. I know no one likes overthinking but then sometimes we can’t help it. It’s okay to think about something before doing it but when you’re taking too long, thinking about the same thing over and over again, being indecisive on taking a decision or form of action then we have to curb it.

Overthinking can cause stress, cloud your judgement, make you anxious, makes it harder for you to enjoy your life, impact your emotions and disrupt your sleeping pattern. Seriously, over thinking does not do any positive thing to you. It just makes you stressed and anxious, I didn’t even feel like doing anything, everything seemed stressful, I couldn’t really sleep at night because my thoughts were keeping me awake. We all have some sort of problem, from time to time it’s okay to think about them but not concentrating on the problems but possible solutions.

Over thinking can take many forms, from being indecisive to reading into the smallest detail, worrying about your future or things you did wrong in your past or should have done, fear of the unknown and what the future holds. Whatever reason why you are overthinking, just breathe, let it go or take action.

HOW TO STOP OVERTHINKING

BE AWARE: be aware of your thoughts, take note of what you’re thinking of, what makes you think of them, how do you feel when you’re over thinking? Be aware of your feelings, your emotions, the circumstances revolving around your thoughts. Be aware of when your thoughts slip from being positive or thinking good things to worrying about things. When I became aware it gave me some sort of control over it.

BE PRESENT: Live in the moment, be present, don’t live in the past or the future, live now, take each day as it comes, don’t go digging up the past or fast forwarding to the future. Be present, I know it’s easier said than done. Something could happen that could take you to the past and then you could start dwelling in them or something else happens and you’re suddenly worried about your future. Live in the now, not the past or the future. The past is done, you can’t go back and undo it, you just have to find things to do to make them better. Let your tomorrow take care of itself, live each day as it comes.

FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL: focus on what you can control, some things are just out of our control so just leave it, focus on what you can control instead. You can’t control your past, so why do you still dwell on it? Focus on the things you can control, if it’s your job that’s making you worry focus on what you can do to ease your work load. Whatever it is that is making you worry, focus on the things you can control, if you keep on thinking about the things you can’t control it will just make you feel helpless and dejected and no one wants to feel that way especially when you can just make things easy for yourself and control the things in your control.

THINK POSITIVE: There is power in your words or thoughts, say affirmations if need be. Think positive thoughts , if you notice that your thoughts are entering the negative realm dive into the positive realm by being conscious of it, thinking positive thoughts, it could be something you are excited about or a good thing that happened to you recently, you could also say your affirmations on anxiety just distract yourself from the negative by the positive.

JOURNAL: write, write down what you’re feeling, write down what you’re worried about, write down possible solutions to your problems. Just write, writing things down really helps you, it helps you focus on what exactly you’re feeling, pour your emotions into writing believe me you’ll feel relieved afterwards. You can even crumble the paper or tear it into pieces after you’re done writing if it will make you feel better. Journaling helps you to be aware of your thoughts and emotions, it is something you should definitely try it out sometime.

LET GO OF YOUR PAST: If you are constantly thinking about your past let go of it. Don’t be a slave to your past, you no longer have any business with it, instead of looking back all the best, try looking forward. Thinking about what could have been, what you should have done, what you could have, none of that will give you what you want. No one can rewind to the past or travel to the past to change our actions, all we can do is to let go and move forward. Stop over thinking things, it will not do you any good or change anything.

MEDITATE: meditation can help you a whole lot. Just close your eyes and breathe. Relax, try letting go of your problems and just focus on your present, feel your surroundings, listen to soothing music and just relax.

LET GO OF YOUR FEAR: it’s usually because we are afraid of something that causes us to over think things. So letting go of your fear will go a long way in helping you to stop over thinking. Most times we fear the unknown, the things we have no control over and it makes us over think about what could be. Let go of those fears and stop pondering on them.

TAKE ACTION: If you’re over thinking everything, just take action. Instead of over thinking getting that job done take action and do it. Nobody is going to take action for you, over thinking only delays your action. Whatever thing it is that you’re over thinking about getting done, just do it. Getting it done will stop you from thinking too much about it and then you can accomplish what you want. So if you are over thinking getting that dress, going for the job interview, starting up your business, take action and do it.

GET BUSY: do something. If you find yourself thinking too much about something find something to do. Do something productive, read a book, watch a movie, listen to inspiring videos and podcast, check out quotes that could help, cook or do whatever thing it is you could do to get your mind off the things you are thinking about.

BE GRATEFUL: most times when I find myself over thinking things especially wondering what the future might bring or thinking of the things going on in my life right now I just stop and make a list of things I’m grateful for. It could be anything down to the smallest things, it could be because you have a good over your head, you have a job, you can eat and have food to eat, all parts of your body is functioning, you have life. Just pause and be grateful. When you do this, instead of thinking about all the bad things going on in your life, now you get to think of the good things that has happened to you. The good things that you have.

LISTEN TO MUSIC: it’s amazing what a good music can do. Sometimes when I’m feeling stressed or sad about something I’ve been over thinking about I just listen to music especially high beat music that I can dance to. There’s no way you would listen to music and you won’t move your body to the rythmn. Although I’m a terrible dancer, listening to music and dancing helps because then I get to laugh at myself and my poor dancing skills and in a way it makes me feel better or I could act like I’m a very popular singer and I’m having a concert and just sing my lungs out even if I don’t know most of the lyrics lol. Just find something to do that will make you pumped and you’ll feel happy doing.

TAKE IT EASY: slow things down. You’re not under any pressure to accomplish a certain thing by a certain age or to get things done by a particular time and even if you have a deadline, take things easy, don’t rush yourself. I currently have an assignment of six thousand words, the day I saw it I just started over thinking things, how was I going to write it, the deadline was too close, how do I start reading all the materials and I also feared failing the course too. And you can guess, over thinking didn’t get anything done, it didn’t get my assignment completed, it didn’t help me read my materials so just take things easy. Take things slow, I’m making an effort to at least write some words each day and read to a certain page and so far it has been going on well. 99% of the things we worry about don’t even happen so we need to stop worrying about them.

JUST STOP: one thing I’ve found myself doing is stopping my thoughts from going too far. When I notice that I’m over thinking something I usually just tell myself to stop. I say something like.

“Ok that’s enough, you’ve been thinking about this too much.”

“I’m not going to waste my time over thinking.”

“I’m not going to think of this.” After saying that I usually find something better to do and if I can’t, I sleep.

BE KIND TO YOURSELF: you deserve to have peace of mind, you deserve to live in the present, you deserve to stop worrying, sleep well and be happy so don’t sabotage that. Be kind to yourself, do yourself a favor and don’t stress yourself. If something is stressing you out, take a break, take a nap, take a vacation if need be. Enjoy yourself, don’t spend time thinking of things that you have no control of, stop over thinking the smallest details. You owe to yourself to be happy and have peace of mind.

So there you have it, 15 things to do when you find yourself over thinking things. I hope the tips will be of great help to you as it was to me and you finally stop over thinking things. Don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t immediately,it takes time. Be kind to yourself and take good care of your mental health.

Anxiety and depression aren’t a joke, if you need to seek professional help please do. Just make sure that you’re taking good care of yourself.

Thanks for reading, follow for more updates like this and if you don’t know, I post every Wednesday and Saturday’s. Like it if you found the tips helpful, pin it to read later, share to someone that needs it and comment below what makes you over think and what you do to make you stop over thinking. Check out my instagram for quotes on positivity and affirmations

Do have a lovely day and week ♥️