Overanalyzing and Overthinking: 5 tips on how to calm your mind and bring balance into your life
Some people are cursed with a mind that won’t shut up, won’t stop searching for patterns, be they existent or non-existent and won’t stop overanalyzing the small things in life.
Overthinking and overanalyzing not only disrupts your mind’s peace but can tend to disrupt your life by bringing unnecessary stress and worry into your everyday life.
This vicious cycle is a waste of time and keeps your mind on 24/7, which in the end drains you and leads to exhaustion.
Gaining control over this nasty habit is a must if you want some peace in your life and mind. However, it’s important to note that there is no ‘off’ switch. Overthinking and analyzing are apart of your character and therefore in order to gain peace of mind, you must learn how to control it.
Having the overthinking and analyzing characteristic isn’t a problem it’s how you use it that’s important.
You need to learn how to manage it by knowing your triggers and boundaries.
The best thing to do is to take the necessary steps needed in order to control your thoughts and recognize the line dividing your normal thought process and your obsessive thought process. This way you can turn the ‘burden’ of overthinking and analyzing into a talent or gift.
Here are 5 tips on how to control your thoughts before it turns into the whirlwind of overthinking and analyzing:
1. Don’t stop yourself from thinking, it’s not possible
Naturally, you are a thinker, sometimes you can be a little obsessive and that’s okay. This just means that you live life thinking things through rather than living life and reacting on impulse which is a good and smart way to live life.
The problem starts when you start to over-analyze and overthink things to the point where you trap yourself in a web of never-ending thoughts, some of which are self-produced and unreal, which only ends up making the labyrinth that much more unbearable.
The only way out is to base your thoughts on evidence and facts. This makes it easy for you to filter out unnecessary thoughts that you may or may not have produced.
2. Know where to draw the line
The trick is to know yourself well enough to know what your triggers are and to know when you’ve overstepped the line into the never-ending thought labyrinth. Try to figure out what it is that makes you overthink and over-analyze things. For example, is it everything or specific things that trigger your thoughts?
If you do manage to narrow it down you can make a mental note to stay out of situations that trigger your overthinking and overanalyzing.
3. Take five deep breaths
The moment you realize you’ve stepped into your overthinking and analyzing labyrinth take a deep breath and count to 10. Close your eyes and begin to focus on your breath.
Breathing brings oxygen into the body and brain which helps relieve any stress, tension or anxiety that may have been felt before.
It’s important to not let the same thought that triggered your overwhelming thought process to enter your mind again and destroy your new calm state if it does, close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing once again.
4. Find something to preoccupy yourself with
Watch a movie, read a book, entertain your kids, anything that requires a certain amount of concentration from you is a good way to get your mind off concentrating on whatever it may be that you’re overthinking.
In doing this you help yourself lessen the tension caused by the pressing thought nagging your mind. Rearranging your focus will help you calm yourself and in doing so the tension caused by that thought slowly lifts. Allowing you to look at it from a different angle.
5. Turn your overthinking and overanalyzing into a talent
As mentioned before, you are a thinker, use this to think deeply about things that will enhance your life and relationships. Overthinking and overanalyzing can be used as a gift. If you channel it correctly you can gain deep wisdom for your mind, body, and soul.
So the trick is to think, but not overthink.
Overthinking and analyzing is a waste of time, time you could be using to enjoy life and all its important things, especially the things that make you happy.
