Many successful people claim that the human brain can be considered the biggest asset of all due to the fact that our mind creates our reality, individually speaking. In my case and maybe in yours as well, it can easily turn into a huge liability regularly, if left unchecked. I have observed that my mind is frequently not on my side. I dare to say that more or less the same applies for most people out there.
As a person, as long as I remember, I always suffered from overthinking and its consequences. Unfortunately, it had become a part of my identity for a long time and nowadays I often make efforts consciously to break free from this “mental hostility”, since it’s of no benefit for me and for anyone who is also a `prisoner` of overthinking.
In this article below, I am going to discuss `the occurrence of overthinking`, how it can probably happen and I am also going to share a few tips which have helped me deal with overthinking and that you may find helpful for your case as well.
A Better View Of An Overthinking Incident
Today, as I was preparing breakfast for myself, I got hit once more by waves of thoughts which tried to have me trapped in almost never-ending overthinking patterns.
The main theme of these patterns and random thoughts was a specific person that used to be a big part of my life and of my identity for a significant amount of time. The thoughts in my head had to do mainly with issues that fall into 2 categories:
a) a few and specific things that they shared with me in the past, during our various interactions and
b) how they treated me on some occasions.
In other words, the main source of my suffering was how victimized I felt, according to my own perspective of the story but that’s just my perspective. There is no need for me to feel victimized, it’s just my perspective that drove me to overthink.
The thoughts that tried to drag me into the overthinking loop had not to do only with past memories but with fantasies of how the future will unfold for them or for me. Worst-case scenarios and potential future negative situations are some basic examples. At this point, I need to remind myself and you, the reader, that according to the stoics, we tend to view life events and situations as positive or negative, solely based on our opinion about them. This is a powerful statement that we all need to keep in mind.
I can understand that some people may not resonate with the above experience of mine, due to the fact that everyone has different reasons to overthink and different problems to solve. On the other hand, there are others who may have witnessed the same train of thought that their brain forces them to follow. The latter category of people may find this post more useful.
How Overthinking Can Start And Why It Is Bad
Overthinking practically starts as a train of scattered, random thoughts which are charged with negative emotions due to their negative background and occupy a significant amount of your precious mental space. This negative process steals you of your clarity and hinders your ability to attack your daily goals. It also drags you out of the present and it throws you into the past or into the future, aiming in trapping you in memories or in making you worry about potentially negative future outcomes that may happen to you, correspondingly.
From a practical and rational standpoint, the process of overthinking has no utility for you but quite the opposite. It’s like your own mind turns against you and is trying to sabotage your journey of self-growth, in case you are on your way in being a better version of yourself. Negative, unnecessary and unproductive thoughts that lead nowhere rob you from your happiness and peace of mind in the present moment. It can feel like your brain is trying to make you drown in a lack of despair, sorrow, and agony for no specific reason.
What I believe our duty is is that we individually ought to take control of our brain and thoughts and to prevent overthinking from happening and taking over us. This is why a lot of people online highlight the importance of taking control consciously of your mind. Obviously, all of this is easier said than done. But once it’s done, you have conquered your first empire and you will be at a place where conquering the world would be much more feasible, in a non – literal essence.
Below are 4 tips that have helped me get back on track, protect my inner peace and preserve my clarity, whenever overthinking tries to cripple in my mind.
How To Fight Back – 4 Tips To Regain Control Over Your Brain
Tip #1: Detach Yourself From The Past Victimhood
A useful tip that has helped me resist stepping into the overthinking realm is to detach my identity from the source of overthinking in the first place. To be more specific, in my life and I assume in yours too, there have been people whose past words and actions have triggered the `activation` of the overthinking loop often.
Let’s assume that I want to avoid being trapped overthinking about the person that I mentioned above, in the beginning of this post. To detach myself, I change the point of view regarding a story that causes over analyzing things pointlessly. This is how I do it.
I tell myself that in reality, they hurt a version of me which belongs to the past. They didn’t hurt me now, although sometimes the pain gives the illusion of the wound being fresh. The person I was in the past, for example one and a half years ago, is not the same as the person I am today. The same can be true for the future version of me, given that I am walking the uncomfortable path of self-growth which means that I may probably change for the better in the near future.
Tip #2: Visualise A Pleasant Future
This tip may be linked to the previous one. What you need to do is to visualize how you’ll be and what your life will look like in the (near) future, while creating beautiful memories for yourself. Imagine and feel how your life will be amazing, without the people who used to be in it and whose words and actions occupy from time to time a lot of your mental space unnecessarily. For me, this is a combination of positive thinking and visualization.
What I aim to achieve by this process is to use my imagination in a positive and beneficial way for me. Given that part of overthinking is based on negative use of the imagination, this tip can be considered as a counter tool for that.
Tip #3: Have In Mind The Power Of Your Thoughts
Like I mentioned again in the beginning of this post, our thoughts shape our reality. If we keep this in mind, we would be way more cautious of the thoughts that we choose to let free around and to wander in the gardens of our minds. The quality of our thoughts can either make up a good reality by leading a good life, or they can downgrade the quality of our life, by making bad decisions.
You obviously have a choice. You can either choose a good life or a bad life. The choices you make are highly influenced by the state of your mind and of your thoughts. You have the power to choose good thoughts to enter your mind and bad thoughts to be left outside of it, begging to be let in. Just let the bad ones keep knocking on the door.
Tip #4: Remind Yourself Of Your Priorities And Purpose
I can’t stress the importance of this enough. When we fall into overthinking patterns, usually it’s not healthy for us and what we practically do is waste time, regardless of whether we are in full control of our mind or not. Overthinking does not lead to solutions for a problem, unfortunately.
One more tool that we can use to preserve our clarity and peace of mind against the threat of falling in overthinking patterns for any reason is to remind ourselves of our purpose in life and of our priorities. Our priorities are the goals we set for ourselves to achieve individually so we can become someday the people that we wish to become.
You don`t know what your priorities are and who you want to become? Then you need to find them. Grab a journal, give yourself enough undistracted time and start answering on paper the following questions:
- Where do I see myself in 1, 5 and 10 years from now?
- How will I like to become? What attributes, skills and personality traits would I want my future improved version of myself to have?
Answer the above questions and start having your actions and words align with the person that you wish to become in the future. Write down your goals and your everyday tasks and have them in a place where you can revisit them everyday. Have them somewhere where they can stare at you daily. Stick the papers to the wall of your room or put them above your office if you have to. The key here is to be reminded of them on a daily basis.
Conclusion
In the end, overthinking is a silent battle that many of us face, often without realizing how much power we give to our thoughts. Yet, as this reflection shows, we always hold the key to freeing ourselves from that mental loop. By detaching from the past, envisioning a brighter future, being mindful of our thoughts, and focusing on our true purpose, we can turn our mind from an enemy into an ally. The journey toward mental clarity is not about silencing our thoughts but learning to guide them wisely—so that they serve our growth instead of hindering it.
