Thursday, February 27, 2014

Worrying & Overthinking


I have a real problem with overthinking everything. The way I see it, I like to be prepared for any and all situations that may come my way. Unfortunately, this also means that I spend a lot of time worrying about things that will never actually happen.

I read these two articles (How To Stop Overthinking and How To Stop Worrying) on Positivity Blog and found some tips that I've been trying to incorporate into my life. 

Put things in a wider perspective. This is often hard to do in the heat of the moment, but it does cause you to realize that, though it seems like a huge deal at this second, it doesn't matter in the long run. I try to do this a lot when I'm stressed out about something. 

Realize that you can't control everything. I can't keep obsessing about everything that might happen and all the ways I might react to it. A lot of things are out of my control and I just have to learn to roll with it. Things probably won't turn out the way I expect anyway, so it becomes a waste of time to try to predict everything.

Tell yourself to stop when you know you can't think straight. Sometimes when I'm on a negative train of thought, I literally just have to tell myself to stop it and think about puppies or something else instead. Otherwise my brain is just going to keep going and going into ever-increasing negativeness.

Most of the things you worry about haven't happened. And they probably won't. So spending time worry about them is a huge waste of time and energy. Plus, you know, there's so many things to worry about that actually will happen.

Don't try to guess what someone else is thinking. When I was younger I cared SO much about what other people were thinking of me, all the time. It was paralyzing. I'm a LOT better about this now, though I definitely do succumb to it. 


What is one small step I can take right now to start improving this situation I am in? This one is challenging for me, but I feel like it could be enormously helpful. Instead of just feeling anxiety, DO something that will actually help. Even if it seems small, it's a good start.





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