How I Reduced My Overthinking

5 ways to help you quiet your mind

For as long as I’ve lived, I can remember myself thinking.

Thinking is a natural aspect of humans, as we cannot go a day without trying to identify what is being served to us. Besides, our brains have loads of thoughts ready to be spread, with the average person thinking approximately 6,000 thoughts a day.

Those who overthink have been estimated to have an average of 70,000 thoughts a day. That’s about one thought per second. Our minds are busy messengers, delivering ideas to our doorstep in a never-ending process.

But at some point, the messengers may overwork themselves and begin to hand us more thoughts than we may need. This is when thinking turns into overthinking, and our perception of the world begins to shift from the external to the internal, staying there until we lose touch with any sense of objective reality.

When we give into the supply of these messengers, without asking them to reduce it, we may deal with over-consumption of thoughts that eventually multiply to a point where some of them do not even originate from us.

In recent years, I have found that the more time I spent overthinking; from as simple as wondering about whether a decision would be right or wrong, whether I should take the next step, or whether I will be met with success or failure, the less I would be prone to taking any decision at all.

Overthinking would lead me to take the least action possible, but over time, I was able to come up with a few actions that would attempt to tackle it. While overthinking cannot be healed completely, it can be limited to a point where you are allowed to think without hindering your actions.

#1 Talk about it

When I would feel unable to handle the pressure of thoughts filling my mind, I found that seeking conversations with others would help, no matter how much I dreaded the very thought of approaching them for advice.

Finding someone who you trust, whether it be a friend, family member, or even stranger who may have a word or two to spare on a particular topic or issue, means that you have located the opposite side of the world that is occupying you.

While we are social creatures, we are also subjective individuals. Our minds can only interpret information according to how we perceive it, so sometimes, a bit of engagement with an alternative viewpoint is all we need to gain hold of a situation.

At the end of the day, you never know if the person you are conversing with is going through a state of overthinking themselves, so the interaction is rewarding on both ends.

One can only handle weights to a certain point. It feels good to release them every once in a while.

#2 Write it down

Writing your thoughts down has healing power, almost as if you are transferring their weight onto paper. If you find yourself unable to openly express what you are thinking about with somebody else, writing it down is the closest solution.

Eventually, a collection of your thoughts and feelings can serve as a journal of reflection when thinking back on different stages of your life.

What’s more, I realized that taking note of my thoughts has allowed me to share them with others, mainly through social networking platforms, in which people from all over the world were able to sympathize and relate with them.

What more fulfilling deed is there than to know you are not alone, especially when you’re made aware of it by people you may have never even met?

#3 Distract yourself from it

A mind that isn’t occupied will eventually seek distraction. If I am in a position where I have nothing to think about in particular, my mind will want to think about something; anything. This is normal since our brain’s main role is to think, but the issue arises when thinking turns into excess thinking.

Somewhere down the line, we can find ourselves trapped in a flood of thoughts.

I realized that the less time I spent distracting myself with thoughts and the more time I spent pursuing activities that kept me occupied, my mind would gradually be liberated from any thoughts that weren’t associated with what I was doing at that instant.

Performing an action doesn’t have to mean working, or overworking yourself. By activity I mean to say one that allows you the freedom to experiment, and in turn, feel free.

When you undertake an activity, especially if it is expressive or creative, such as playing an instrument, cooking, painting, or writing, you are allowing your mind to focus on none other than your experience bringing a certain essence to life.

#4 Overthink overthinking

At times, I like to use overthinking against itself.

When I think about the silliness of putting more thought into something that is required, my mind tends to rest, acknowledging that it may be worrying about an issue that can easily be controlled, or that cannot be controlled, no matter how hard it tried.

Upon this realization, the voice in my head that fed unnecessary thoughts appears to go silent. I am then given the possibility that perhaps I do have certain control over the way I choose to treat the thoughts entering my mind.

Next time the voice begins to speak uncontrollably, try to question it by asking why it’s spending so much time being concerned about a situation. You may be surprised when it has no answer to give.

#5 Meditate it away

I’d always thought that meditation is not the ideal way to stop your mind from thinking, since it isn’t thinking about anything and so will be tempted to start thinking again.

However, I soon realized that all the psychologists, gurus, and motivational speakers I’d spent a while listening to were not specifically suggesting thinking anything at all. Rather, they were more concerned with achieving a relaxed state of mind focused on the present moment, that was no longer interested in thinking about burdensome thoughts, instead filled with positive, feel-good ones.

The level of calamity that can be experienced through certain frequencies of music, or even just paying attention to the sound of nature, has led my mind to want to think about thoughts that corresponded to those tunes, which meant calming and re-assuring affirmations.

The Takeaway

Overthinking is normal. It is healthy to a point since it allows us to differentiate between options and scenarios. Sometimes, we may not know what the right answer is, or the right step to take, but thinking about something excessively can lead to a problem where we are compelled to take no action at all.

While I haven’t been able to heal overthinking completely, I have found that these methods have allowed me to decrease the process of thinking about certain situations more than I need to.

• Talking about my thoughts with others who may help me see through a situation more clearly, or better yet, help them with their struggle and gain a mutual understanding of our respective issues.
• Writing my thoughts down, whether it be on a piece of paper or a keyboard, knowing that it will act as an account for other people to relate to and possibly gain help from.
• Distracting myself through taking on an activity that I consider being passionate about, not necessarily working but feeling productive in seasoning my skills or discovering something new that occupies my mind.
• Thinking about overthinking itself, and how it has affected my perception of life while understanding that I am allowed to have control over it sometimes.
• Meditating and achieving a calm state of mind, which, instead of thinking about nothing, makes room for thoughts that make me feel good, and eventually forget about unnecessary thoughts that used to occupy my mind.

Seen as a whole, if life were not meant to include overthinking, we would probably be given a manual with all the right choices. But we’re not. Therefore, it ought to be accepted as a part of life, one that we can learn to limit to our best ability if we are to live a balanced lifestyle.

Angelina Der Arakelian