Overthinking - the carousel of worries
Do you often dwell on trivial matters and worry about them? Are you someone who constantly second-guesses themselves and reads too much into what others say about them? These are classic examples of overthinking someone’s conduct.
The condition of thinking unnecessarily and excessively is referred to as “overthinking.” People will often spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about certain issues. Overthinking is not a healthy answer to the difficulties, and it has the potential to disrupt both day-to-day living and sleep. People get increasingly preoccupied with their thoughts, to the point that they can’t draw themselves away.
The anxieties and concerns may have an effect on the past, the present as well as the future. When we focus too much on the future, we set ourselves up for a downward spiral. For example, “Once I’ve finished the exams and passed, I’ll be better, if I get the apprenticeship, if I get the promotion, if I’m going to retire soon… and so on.” Even if one thing were resolved, another would take its place quickly.
Overthinking is particularly common in young and middle-aged adults, according to Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, Yale University professor and the author of the Women Who Think Too Much. Nolen-Hoeksema discovered that 73% of people between the ages of 25 and 35 self-identified as overthinkers. The tendency to think too much is also more common among women (57%) than it is among males (43%).
Girl panicking screaming, losing temper holding hands on head from overthinking, looking worried and
We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It’s a death trap.
Anthony Hopkins
How to stop it?
This is not a subject that should be taken lightly. It is possible that big difficulties might arise after only a short period of time of worrying and keeping it up. When left untreated, it can lead to anxiety and depression.
There are some suggestions available on how to quit overthinking, but for the majority of people, it is not as simple as it is made up to be.
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Write down your thoughts. Putting your thoughts down on paper is a fruitful method to interact with what’s going on in your head. Writing allows you to gather and organize your ideas about current themes, giving you more insight into those views.
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Talk to other people.You may feel better after you talk about your thoughts and you will recognize, you are not alone in this situation. If someone is in the same situation, you can help each other.
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Do what makes you happy. These may include heading to the gym, hiking in the woods, reading, socializing with friends, and viewing your favorite movie. This will not be able to permanently distract you from your thoughts, but if you engage in activities you appreciate, something may alter over time.
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Accept your feelings and thoughts. If you find yourself in a rumination cycle again, consider whether the topic will still be of interest to you in a month or a year. If the answer is yes, then you should attempt to embrace and let go of the situation and sentiments to give them less room. There is nothing you can do to alter this situation at this time. Repetition of this phrase will calm your troubling train of thoughts.
If there is no way out of this line of thinking, then one should seek the assistance of a professional in order to prevent any long-term damage.
Getting out of the habit of excessive thinking is a significant accomplishment and a challenging task, particularly when you are completely enmeshed in it.
You should always be working against it, and you should come up with your own method for combating it.
