Have you been overthinking? 10 signs and tips for beginners!
- Tara Omorogbe
- Dec 17, 2020
- 4 min read
Let’s take this opportunity to check in on our mental health while on your grind to manifesting your life’s vision.
Here is a checklist to spot common signs of overthinking:
1. You try and stop worrying, but cannot
Are you aware of your current state of mind?
Do your mind, body and spirit a solid by making time to practice the art of mindfulness. Of course, when you do though, you’ll be able to easily identify your periods of racing thoughts.
When sitting in your thoughts, make sure to check in on your physical body and use cleansing breaths to identify manifested pain points.
The key to breaking the cycle of worry is distraction (like a parent’s secret weapon of stopping a toddler tantrum)
2. You dwell on past or present mistakes
What we don’t need is to torture ourselves over things we cannot change.
Seriously though, it’s nice to have passing thoughts about the past for sure.
It’s kind of sad to continually stroll down memory lane by repeating old and unproductive narratives.
If you cannot see that you are dwelling too much, then your close friends and family members will definitely be there to remind you of this stagnant behaviour.
In the wise words and voice of Kid Cudi “keep moving forward”.
3. You relive alleged embarrassing moments of your life in your head
According to a new survey about when we get embarrassed:
We’re human beings so of course it’s normal to feel embarrassed if something silly happens to you.
Take for example wiping out on some black ice as you run to catch your bus.
Or deeper…maybe you poured your heart out to your quarantine crush singing 112’s song cupid; only to be told they’d like to just remain friends and nothing more.
Regardless of the situation it’s not helping you to replay these scenarios on a loop.
Let the moment happen, reflect and move forward with your life.
4. You have trouble falling/staying asleep
According to The American Institute of Stress 48 percent of people have trouble sleeping because of stress.
The worse thing about overthinking is the physical manifestation of the stress such as losing sleep.
It’s not easy to manage on little sleep because you maybe easily irritated, confused, moody or low energy the next day(s)
Ones who overthink may have no difficulty falling asleep but wake up throughout the night thinking about things they cannot change.
If this sounds like you it’s time to take control of your thoughts and life. You can work on this by putting situations to rest and growing your ability to let go, and release.
5. You may have appetite fluctuations
He continues on to mention that in acute or immediate settings, stress causes an increased level of cortisol, which affects and increases acid production in the stomach.
Take a moment to do some deep breathing exercises to calm your nervous system down.
Personally, I use the 4-7-8 breathing technique in times when I am feeling stress on my central nervous system.
6. You get hung up over other people’s words
It’s important to keep in mind that only 85% of our worries actually happen so it’s really important to not beat yourself up over people words and criticisms.
It’s not to say that you should never accept the views of other but be selective in whom you accept it from.
7. You have a lingering fear of failure
Do you have to let these feelings linger? Why is it a chore for us to address our fears head on? Well…because it’s terrifying that’s why!
It’s almost intoxicating to hold onto our fear because it’s like that little blanket of comfort
and familiarity.
Having failed something that you’ve put a lot of effort into absolutely sucks. Don’t stop chasing your goal because of a failure though. Know that failed results are temporary and look at them as opportunities to correct errors that are holding you back from goal completion and success!
8. You try but have a hard time letting things go
Another sign of overthinking is holding onto people, places and things that are doing you a disservice. During your self-discovery sessions are you noticing that you are having difficulties letting thing go?
You’re overthinking situations, past conversations, failures, misunderstandings and everything in between. It’s crucial to recognize you are doing this because the physical manifestations of grudges have an absurd number of symptoms.
You'll also be able to understand the concept of change in this post here (#6: Far-Sighted Actions) regarding stopping the worry to make change work in your favour.
9. You face troubles making decisions
If you need to walk around with a nickel in your pocket to flip a coin and make a decision then “roger, I think we have a problem with overthinking here”.
The humour here is that according to research our brains already make up its mind up to 10 seconds before we consciously realize it.
It’s time to face your personal reality and make a sound decisions using your mind, body and soul. When you have trouble making decisions your confidence is usually on the back burner
and you judge and second guess your thoughts.
10. You are the poster child for analysis paralysis
Analysis paralysis is the state of mind and eventual pattern of over-thinking or over-analyzing a situation. It may be concerning to the point that you don’t take action. Which then paralyzes the result of your goal or act.
There is not way you can be productive in this loop and expect successful results at the end. It’s just not going to happen until you break the cycle.
Here is a list of needed tips to stop your overthinking:
· Take time to reflect on how far you’ve come
· Take a cleansing breaths using the 4-7-8 method
· Practice guided or self-directed meditation
· Live in the present
· Let go of your past your best life by savouring both little and big moments
Overthinking and being worrisome may be a habit you formed in your early childhood due to a natural personality trait, family dynamics or traumatic experiences.
It's only you who can stop the worry by working on the abovementioned tips to live you life to its fullest potential!
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