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Overthinking is certainly a double-edged sword. On one side, it can be very unpleasant and debilitating. But on the other, it can be useful to push our questions, concerns, and thoughts to the extreme in pursuit of improvement and understanding. To find the balance, we must allow overthinking to exist in our life, but remain in control of the thinking process so we can inhibit any negative side effects. In this video, we explain 6 simple ways to more easily find this sweet spot.
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We’ve all heard someone say that they do
this you almost certainly have done it
yourself if not regularly personally I
can assure that this occupies a large
amount of my time
it is overthinking frankly while I’m
writing this I’m doing it
I find myself easily falling down the
rabbit hole in my mind asking bull light
right in the next sentence will it make
any sense
will this essay convey what I wanted to
well the video I turn this into be any
good is it even worth making will people
find any value in it does it even matter
does anything matter clearly
overthinking can be extremely
debilitating what starts as a useful
exercise of questioning something or
trying to determine the quality of what
one is doing can often dip into mayhem
and useless confusion in a moment of
overthinking we lose traction with
reality it feels as if a portal to
endless nothingness has been opened we
frantically search for somewhere or
something that lets us regain our grip
on our thoughts and our reality but
everything seems to collapse underneath
us as humans we are both self-aware and
curious and now more than ever
there’s so much information at our
disposal it is overwhelming to try to
make sense of it all especially when a
lot of it doesn’t really make much sense
and beyond that there’s so much unknown
waiting to be discovered there’s so much
to find interest and fascination in
there’s so much to do and decide from
and in the process the average human
generates around 70,000 thoughts a day
nearly a new thought every second so of
course we sometimes overthink things I
would argue that there is no quick
simple trick to prevent overthinking
from ever happening and in my opinion
anything or anyone who claims that there
is because either misguided or
negligently misleading however what can
be very helpful and effective in
minimizing the negative side effects of
overthinking is understanding how to
best regain control of the thinking
process as well as setting up habits
patterns and ways of life to help combat
the tendency to frequently and
excessively overthink firstly the best
and most effective method of dealing
with something like constant rumination
in any subsequent depression or anxiety
is seeking professional help with a
licensed therapist or counselor on this
channel our take on life and any advice
we give is merely just that our take on
life and our best advice based on
personal experience and opinion and it
is not to be used as a substitute for
professional help
however we do believe that any
additional tactics or ideas we can share
based on our own personal experiences
can only help the conversation with that
in mind here
six things we have found to be of help
one in battle with thought one write it
down writing down your thoughts whether
it be in a journal or typed up into an
essay or on a notepad on your phone or
even recording yourself talking using
the voice memo feature on your phone can
all be great ways to navigate through
one’s thoughts more clearly and
effectively seeing or hearing back what
you are thinking can help provide that
little bit of detachment between
yourself and your thoughts so you can
better understand what you are thinking
about why you’re thinking about it and
where to take the thoughts in order to
find some sort of conclusion to talk
with someone if not a therapist or a
doctor of some sort talk to a friend
romantic partner or family member that
you have a sense of comfort and openness
with really try to dig deep and share
the full scope of the things that you
are hung up on the more open you are the
more effective this can be if you don’t
have anyone who you feel you have a real
sense of openness with open up to the
person that you think would be the best
bet often someone may not be open with
you because you are not open with them
and sometimes by initiating that
openness you unlock a higher level of
connection and exchange having someone
to bounce ideas off of contribute
alternative thoughts or to say whether
or not you’re making sense can be very
reassuring make you feel less alone in
your head and provide a sense of closure
and some of the endless loops of thought
3 distract your mind find healthy things
to do that distract you from
overthinking sometimes embracing the
process of overthinking and working
through it by writing it down or talking
about it is the best route but in cases
where it becomes so debilitating and
begins to permeate into every little
thing you do and nothing seems to help
bring clarity to the thoughts it is
important to engage in things that
forcedly take you out of it things that
require your full focus and attention a
lot of what we do in life as a result of
this desire to find distraction from the
self and the problems of overthinking
but there’s certainly a lot of
activities that do this that are
unhealthy things like drinking taking
drugs overeating overworking or taking
high-level risks with no real purpose
are all things that can distract us from
overthinking but ultimately just lead to
further problems and end up amplifying
the need to think a lot about life and
how to improve it subsequently in
creating worse patterns of overthinking
alternatively things like exercising
playing sports working on creative
endeavors or hobbies with no real
financial stake doing fun things with
friends family or a romantic partner
that going to the beach in amusement
park out to eat or just hang
and joking around can all be
tremendously helpful in finding a break
from over thinking in ways that actually
benefit your mind and body
additionally doing these things
proactively by designating time to them
throughout the week is obviously
extremely important and can potentially
help minimize the tendency to
excessively overthink for meditation
meditation can still have a bit of a
weird stigma around it a lot of people
resist the premise of the idea that’s
simply doing nothing can do anything and
this argument is very understandable
however it is not completely true
meditating can help you gain greater
control over the mind and the voice in
your head that is constantly ruminating
it can help quiet this voice and
function a lot like exercising in the
sense that it serves as a healthy
distraction from one’s normal state by
placing your attention more on the
present moment and away from thinking
about the past or future even if you do
not believe in this sort of spiritual
aspect that is often associated with
meditation you can still think about it
as a form of relaxation giving yourself
some time to just do nothing while you
focus on your breath and submit to the
present moment can bring you into a
unique state of calmness and self
attunement which can help recalibrate
the thinking process and provide you
with greater clarity 5 overthink
overthinking yes this is ironic and
sounds counterintuitive but if you’re
already prone to overthinking why not
use it against itself
think about overthinking really think
about it let the same process of
rumination unfold on the very beast that
is itself recognize how goofy it is
recognize how goofy life is overthinking
can sometimes feel like hell but
ultimately what even is overthinking
it’s just thinking too much so what you
come out of it sometimes you learn from
it sometimes it actually helps you find
the best answer to something sometimes
it exhausts you sometimes it’s pointless
but at the end of the day it’s a part of
being alive and it’s a part of being
human it’s representative of the fact
that we can think so deeply that we
actually think past what is necessary
that we’re so curious and desire so much
knowledge understanding and perfection
that our brain will take us to the
extreme in this pursuit and the concept
of overthinking loses some of its power
when you think about it like this lastly
6 acceptance accept it acknowledge that
to some extent overthinking is in fact a
part of life we’re not always going to
know what is going on or what the right
decision or answer is and this is going
to put us through moments of stress and
disorientation but that
be ok so long as it’s not all the time
and doesn’t become debilitating
accepting that moments of overthinking
and stress are a part of life also helps
reduce the power it has over us it no
longer feels like we are alone in it or
that it is something to feel foolish
about it separates our sense of
self-identity from it and allows us to
try our best to enjoy and appreciate the
process of life for both what feels good
and what feels bad ultimately at the
risk of sounding pessimistic although
these can all be very helpful in
reducing the negative side effects
there’s no quick solution to completely
eliminate overthinking surely there are
different types of overthinking and some
are more severe than others and some are
more easily reduced than others
but I don’t believe overthinking
especially if you’re someone who over
thinks a lot can just be turned off and
frankly I don’t think it should be
overthinking by definition is thinking
about something more than necessary but
how does one know how much thinking is
necessary if we do not think past the
point of necessity in our desire for
understanding innovation and preparation
for the future we think and we think a
lot we are constantly taking in the
world trying to make sense of it all
some thoughts are going to be
unnecessary and some thoughts are going
to be questions with no answer but that
doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think them and
it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask them
ironically on the topic of over thinking
over thinking is sort of what let us
look for the best way to deal with
overthinking it’s what led you to this
video and whether or not this video has
helped you it is what got you in the
mode to find resolution to find
improvement in your life and to not be
willing to think too much sometimes is
to risk never thinking enough
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This post was previously published on YouTube.