Overthinking is the art of creating problems that don’t even exist. You can already relate, can’t you?
Everybody overthinks for some of the other problems in their day to day life but there are people who are constant overthinkers, who struggle in a lot of things be it from choosing a dress to getting married. They look at simple things like a life or death decision. They are like machines that squeeze the juices out of lemons given how they squeeze out all the negativity from a topic, thing or a problem. It all depends on our thought patterns, how we think and what we think. Some of the major possibilities behind the overthinking could be the bad past- like something really bad happened in the past and it haunts them, a trauma that is still inside their head as they haven’t spoken about it to anyone, watching too much of negative content or someone special left them. Also, the ones who don’t accept themselves lack confidence and start comparing them with others then relate to negative things and think about it too much. Now, these people have a rough childhood and they don’t understand how to deal with it so without thinking about it they suppress it and move ahead in life which creates problems in the future. It becomes difficult for them to explain and come close to people as they fear that the other people won’t understand them and also the fear that their loved ones will abandon them and their most important people in life won’t want them, basically they overthink even on that.
Overthinking has a lot of bad effects. 1)If you keep continuing this thing it leads you straight to mental illness. According to science, overthinking increases the chances of mental illness as spending too much time on it slows down the speed of processing and tires your brain faster.
2) It becomes an obstacle in your way of problem-solving because you constantly reanalyze things that force you to focus on the problems more instead of the solutions.
3) It disturbs your sleep as your mind won’t rest at all. You feel like something’s going on in your head and it starts feeling heavy and you just want to stop everything right there. Due to this, you are not able to complete your deep sleep.
4) You stop being practical in life and become paranoid.
5) You don’t like to do or try new things because it fears you.
6) You don’t feel like coming out of your comfort zone which stops you from growing.
7) You freak out easily and it becomes tough for you to handle yourself as you get anxiety attacks, over-eating problems, harming yourself so that you get rid of it and whatnot.
Now you must be thinking how scary this sh*t is but believe me as they say everything has a solution so does overthink. You’re gonna be fine, just breathe and remember that you’ve been in this place before and you came out of it. There are some ways which I’m 110% sure are gonna help you all. Start with self-discipline and acceptance. Just accept who you are and set a goal for yourself and stick to it. Meditate because it helps you calm your body and soul as said by Gaur Gopal Das, “ Meditation completely transforms our character, develops the best qualities within us and allows us to experience self-realization.”
Choose the right words of affirmations and keep chanting them always it helps you to calm your mind and focus on the good. Have faith in something you love the most and think about it so that it gives you positive vibes. Do what you love the most but don’t always distract your mind from problems because they will help you but temporarily. So use them for short term to cut down the long term problems permanently. The most important thing change the thought pattern, cut off the habit of dwelling in the past and also don’t think much about the future. For example: “Thinking that how I wish I had not reacted like that so this wouldn’t have happened today.” Forget it, you’ve already done it so don’t regret it and sit with it instead focus on how you’ll improve with the reactions. Also, don’t start planning about the problems that may be coming in the future. Don’t invite them unnecessarily like “I’m gonna embarrass myself tomorrow in front of the whole class.” No, you won’t embarrass if you practice hard and talk positive. Just cut off those but’s and if’s. Challenge yourself to find different ways to solve one problem and focus on your efforts and attitude because that’s under your control and if things aren’t under control then cope with it and see how things will change tremendously. You and your mind are not different, they belong to the same body so tell it to “Shut up! You’re not being productive.”
Control your mind don’t allow it to control you because 98% of the problems would be solved if you stop overthinking and calm your mind. It’s very powerful and if used wisely can win over everything.
Channelize the vibes within. They are strong!