Anxiety is like a rocking chair. It’s something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far. – Jodi Picoult
I have a lot of clients who tell me overthinking is a demon that consumes their time, energy, and their sanity! I totally get it, I’ve been down that path many times and it sucks. It feels like an unavoidable pattern when you’re stuck in it.
Why does this happen?
- If you are experiencing higher levels of stress in general, it feeds the overthinking cycle. Stress can kick our ass! It can lead to poor sleep, physical tension, irritability, fatigue, and brain fog. Chemically speaking, your cortisol levels are already higher because of your stress. Then your thoughts increase your cortisol even more, feeding the thoughts, which keeps your cortisol heightened, and then there is another thought…. It’s a looping cycle many of us get stuck in. The kicker here is higher cortisol levels inhibit the brain’s capacity to communicate from the logical part to the emotional one (left brain to right brain). So it’s harder to pull yourself out of the cycle!
- People who are prone to anxiety/OCD tendencies have genetic dispositions to this overthinking madness (thanks mom and dad).
- People with lower self-esteem tend to have cyclic thoughts because they have a habit of always doubting and questioning themselves. Am I accepted? Did I say that correctly? Was I misunderstood? Do I have approval? What do others think of me? Are they going to text me back?
- Your brain makes tons of assumptions that are almost always skewed or flat-out wrong, it looooooves to fill in the gaps when not enough information is available, it starts catastrophizing, logical thinking goes out the window, and …BAM! You’re in a spiral that gets you nowhere peeps! Love this quote “The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.”(Unknown) So true! You keep telling yourself the same thing over and over again, without taking action or shifting them so of course you’re unhappy!
What the fuck can we do about it?
How do we break the cycle of questioning ourselves or focusing on things that are out of control? How do we stop obsessing about what might happen or what did happen and move on to more balanced thoughts?
- Question your thoughts! Writing it down is awesome and more effective because you are consciously taking the time to do this and something magical happens in our brains when we put pen to paper.
Use the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) method called Socratic questioning: What is the evidence for my thought? What is the evidence against it? What would I tell a friend in this situation? Can I create a more healthy, balanced thought? Hmmmmmm, sounds like a mantra! Yes! Mantras kick ass at interrupting the cycle because they act as a personal cue for your brain, one you picked, not what your mother or social media has suggested! Using mantras to move our thoughts in a healthy balanced direction can get you back into living the life of the peaceful warrior I know you are. Check out our site or our book Sticky Note Mantras the Art & Science of Choosing Your Thoughts for mantras about accepting ambiguity, letting go of control, being in the present, and more.
- Another CBT method is relabeling these thoughts as unhelpful or junk thoughts. These junk thoughts are the anxiety brain, or brain glitches that help you realize these thoughts have no value, are unproductive, and are unnecessary. Relabeling shifts those chemicals that are keeping you from moving on to the next thought!
- Mounds of research show that meditation is one of the best things to battle this problem. Take just 5 – 10 minutes a day to focus on your breathing and if a thought pops up, label it “thinking” and keep breathing! This teaches you body and mind “cognitive diffusion,” which is stepping out of your thoughts and observing them instead of being in them. It lets your brain regions start to communicate more easily (hello logical thoughts!) and intercept those negative ones. You can also try redirecting your mind by saying simply, “Focus on the breath.”
- Sleep hygiene is extremely helpful in resetting your hormones and neurochemicals. Make sure to turn off bright lights an hour before bed, because they are stimulating. Use soft light above the head. Put your phone on silent, guys! Avoid emails and social media at night – we want nothing triggering your emotions before bed!
- Reduce all things that trigger your stress response throughout the day. A huge trigger for most people is limiting your social media and constantly checking your phone. This causes repeated quick hits of dopamine which causes your dopamine to drop significantly. This leads to overthinking, low motivation, and rumination! Lay off of this, especially in the morning which sets you up for the day.
- Change up your activities to get alternate chemicals flowing! Try something active – exercise is one of the best ways of releasing cortisol and getting it lower than baseline. Even better if you can do it outside! Just a small walk in the morning shifts your chemicals. Enjoying a hobby does the trick too, being social, or trying new things (where you have to participate fully) are all ways to shake up your brain.
- Food can totally alter your brain chemistry. Get lots of protein, leafy greens and green teas because they have L-theanine which positively affects your serotonin and dopamine, which influence mood, sleep, and emotion, and cortisol, which helps the body deal with stress.
I know this was a longer blog, but if you’re still reading:
THIS SHIT IS ABSOLUTELY DOABLE my friends.
I know because I have done it. I had OCD and debilitating overthinking patterns as a child into early adulthood. That’s how I started using mantras.I was constantly pulling a rope back and forth with my own stinkin’ thinkin’. Using mantras, I learned to drop the rope and no longer value the thoughts that were popping up in my head. I still have tendencies, of course. But using all of these strategies together got me to SUCH a better place. I know you will get there too.
