“The Ultimate Guide to Overthinking: Causes, Effects, and Proven Ways to Stop It for a Peaceful Mind”
Introduction:
Ever faced overthinking? Of course, yes.
We all have faced it sometimes.
You would sometimes perhaps be in an unaware condition.
Do you know how many times your decisions are wrong due to overthinking?
In this Blog, we will know everything about Overthinking, this could be the last guide you may need on overthinking. A 10 min read can transform your life by making you know many things about yourself which you were unaware till date.
Table of Contents:
- What is Overthinking
- Difference between Healthy Thinking & Overthinking?
- Cause of Overthinking
- Effect of Overthinking on Life
- Overthinking vs Deep Thinking
- How to Stop Overthinking
- Stories & Examples
- Practical Tips / Takeaways
- Conclusion
What is Overthinking?
Too much thinking is called overthinking. But Overthinking is not as big as people have hyped it. Overthinking is a state through which every Student, Teacher, Leader, Professor, Artist, Businessman & every successful person in their respective fields have gone through many times in their life. Many Overthinkers have become the greatest in their fields.
In this blog you are going to know how overthinking can lead you to in the darkness of anxiety or to the shine of success.
Main Content:
1. Difference between Healthy Thinking & Overthinking?
Some of us may be suffering from Overthinking right now in few situations.
By doing following observations you can differentiate which is healthy thinking and which one is Overthinking.
1. Time taken in decision making:
If you take hours in deciding whether to wear this or that in today’s evening party, its Overthinking. If you think for 6 months in creating content before publishing a book, it Could be Healthy Thinking.
So long time taken in decision making of small things can be a symptom of Overthinking.
2. Action-Inaction:
If your thoughts are driving you towards taking action then its healthy thinking and if they driving you towards inaction, this may be Overthinking.
Thoughts converted into action are never part of Anxiety and thoughts that are unacted always result into discomfort over time.
3. Inability to Focus:
When constant thinking of past happening or something to take decision on, makes you unable to focus on things which are Infront of you, then you may be suffering from the problem of overthinking.
4. Too much concerned about negative outcomes:
If before starting some work or while doing some work, you thing too much about “what if this doesn’t happen”, “what if I fail”,” people may laugh on me”, they you are definitely suffering from Overthinking in moment.
2. Cause of Overthinking:
1. We don’t see things as they are:
We often want things to happen in the way we wish. This is one of the most cause of Overthinking. See, Actions taken in the past cannot be changed, actions in the hand of other cannot be controlled by you. In the moment you understand these things, no. of thoughts in your mind decreases instantaneously. Only when you want to control the uncontrollable, you suffer, stretch yourself and feel tensed.
2. We want Uncertainties to be certain:
“Whether I will get this job or not”, “whether I will win this competition or not”, “whether I will get married to my beloved one or not”, these things keep on running in your mind. You want a YES or NO answer right now. That’s why the mind wanders here and there to search the answers.
Please note, ‘The thrill to know nothing about future makes our life beautiful & exciting”. You enjoy a Live cricket match more than highlights of the match, as the excitement of falling the result in either side make us live in present.
Humans can only be happy if they live in present moment. Knowing nothing about future makes you rethink the actions you are taking today.
3. No complete involvement in your action:
When you take a task and try to execute it with some course of action. If you have doubt on your course of action, then you won’t give all effort to the action plan. This surely leads to Overthinking.
Before making plan do research. Have enough study about your plan so that you get confidence on the course of action you are going to take. This is minimize the chances of overthinking.
4. You feel shy:
You always feel shy before speaking in front of people, you feel inferior somewhere. Feeling of Inferiority doesn’t let you act boldly and if you don’t act boldly you feel incomplete from within. This triggers overthinking again.
So, know that No one has learnt all the thing in mother’s womb. Those who are accepted as experts in their fields were also zero when they started. A full glass of water is first filled with a drop of water then it starts its journey to get fully filled.
3. Effect of Overthinking on Life:
1. Mental Health Impact:
Uncontrolled thinking/thinking about uncontrollable causes stress, anxiety, insomnia & risk of depression.
2. Physical health Issues:
Overthinking may cause Headaches, fatigue & low energy towards your goal. Overthinking causes increased stress hormone levels and further weakened immune system.
3. Poor decision Making capacity:
IF you think too much you lose your strength of taking big and quick decisions. You keep on doubting on your decisions whether they are perfect or not.
4. Relationship stress:
An overthinking mind becomes weak mind, having more expectations, less acceptance, over attached and over sensitive. The person wants to live in isolation and further depleting his mental state.
5. Depleted quality of life:
An overthinking person remains unaware of the joy to be alive, the emotion of feeling compassion, excitement to achieve his goals & the irreplaceable bliss of being with family & friends.
4. Overthinking vs Deep Thinking:
People often get confused about Deep thinking and Overthinking. This is something to be aware of always that in which direction my mind is being driven with my thoughts. If you always take an assessment of your thoughts keeping the below table in consideration, you can always figure out whether you are an Over Thinker or Deep Thinker.
| Overthinking | Deep Thinking |
| Thinking Repetitively unproductively around same worry or fear without moving towards solution. | Focused & structured thinking that explores new ideas, possibility & solution of a problem. |
| Driven by worries, fear, uncertainty and may circle around the same thing. | Driven by curiosity, growth or problem solving attitude. |
| Brings anxiety, stress, irritation & confusion. | Brings clarity, feasible solutions, calmness and better understanding. |
| Overthinking results in inaction which wastes time. | Deep Thinking brings action, clarity and improved mindset, which is the best use of time. |
| Makes you live with misery & unhappiness with a fickle mind. | Makes your life full of wisdom, health, prosperity with a focused and productive mind. |
| Example: What if people don’t like this blog? What if I missed something important? What if some other blog is better than this blog. | Example: What more can be added in this blog to benefit my audience far more? What words and sentence I should use so that my reader get inspired? What experience of mine is there which is still not mentioned in the blog. |
5. How to Stop Overthinking:
1. Take quick decisions for small things:
When you start taking quick decisions in small things, what to wear tonight”,” what food to order online”, “what should be the color of the curtain” etc. mind develops a habit of living in surety. Mind show its creativity and productivity when it is free from all kind of dilemma and fear.
2. Be Positive:
Being positive doesn’t mean that you have think that everything will be happening as you wanted. Being positive mean whatever will happen, I will take care of that, I will see it, I will find a way from every possible outcomes to achieve my goal.
3. Don’t feel shy:
A line from the great thinker Sandeep Maheshwari “Sabse Bada rog kya kahenge log” hits me hard as this tells the psychology of people we are worried with.
Noone in the world is thinking too much about yourself, no one is going to give you anything or take away anything from you. The delusion “What people will think” drags you from giving your best in life.
Maintain decency in attitude and work shamelessly.
4. Restructure your thoughts:
Whenever any negative thought comes to your mind just dissect it with the sword of knowledge and make if positive for you. E.g.
“I fear whether I will able to speak English on stage”-à”I will give my best, take a pause if mistaken and start again”.
“I fear whether I will achieve something big in my life”-à”Expert says you can master any skill if you give sufficient time & skills brings big opportunities”.
5. Meditate:
Meditation help you see your thoughts just like sky sees the clouds passing. Meditation has the immense potential to separate you from your thoughts and make you observe clearly that thoughts can be selected and pursued with the power of stability and will.
Meditation has the potential to make you enter into a zone where you are thoughtless. This zone is the real zone to rest, the taste of this zone for a moment can transform your life magically.
6. Stories & Examples:
1. Nikola Tesla:
There was a time when Tesla was having sleepless nights & obsessive thinking. He would replay designs in his head hundreds of times. This could have destroyed him but instead, he learnt to discipline his thoughts by visualizing inventions clearly before building them. Later he became one of the greatest minds of the century and invented AC Motor & wireless transmission concept which is out reach of today’s scientists as well.
Lesson: Overthinking when channelized into creative visualization becomes a bliss.
2. Mahatma Gandhi
There was a time when Gandhi was extremely shy and overthinking every social situation. In his early career he was so nervous that he couldn’t even speak in court. But he slowly conquered this by aligning his thoughts with a higher purpose.
Later he became one of the remarkable leader of Indian Freedom movement.
Lessons: When you tie up your mind with some higher purpose, overthinking loses his power.
3. Abraham Linkon:
Linkon was known for his struggle with depression and overthinking. He would endlessly replay his failure and doubted himself. Instead of letting it crush him, he started writing poetry, told stories and redirected his thinking into speech and decision. Later he became one of the greatest president of USA, guiding America in the Civil War.
Lesson: Express your feeling through writing or speech, it can transform pain into leadership.
4. J. K. Rowling:
Before publishing Harry Potter, Rowling struggled with poverty, rejection and self-doubt. She often overthought whether her book was good enough. But instead of giving up she chose and forced herself to write daily, no matter the thoughts. Later Harry Potter became such a big global phenomenon, making her one the most influential authors ever.
Lesson: Do the work even while overthinking-Action kills doubts.
Above examples are showing that even if overthinking not controlled fully but directed towards creativity, higher purpose, practice & discipline, can lead a man to greatest heights in life.
Practical Tips / Takeaways:
Following are the takeaways which you can always take help from, whenever you fell attacked by overthinking.
- Do work, even thoughts run, do work, your perseverance in your work will push away overthinking.
- Don’t feel shy in expressing yourself, a person like you is nowhere else, you have some shine which need to be expressed.
- Remember, Mind is there to help you not disrupt you. Make mind your friend by expressing yourself and keeping it happy.
- Always turn the negative thinking into positive by remembering the beautiful scope in the job you are on.
- Meditate, there is nothing more powerful than meditation in this world. All hesitation and problem go away when you enter into the meditative state.
Conclusion:
Let the thoughts run but you always be on in your action. Thoughts are going to show you the way ahead or going to leave the way when it’s overthinking. Thoughts help us in finding the way ahead when we are involved into action.
Implement all the learning from this blog and read it again and again for few days. You are going to see the change within and without yourself.
Remember whenever your thoughts are leading you to negativity, fear, stress its overthinking, take a break remember all the things mentioned here and you will see how mind changes its path from Negative to Positivity.
A Video explaining you everything about Overthinking is here:
