5 Ways to Stop Overthinking Every Single Damn Thing

DISCLOSURE: I am not a mental health professional. If you need help finding a mental health care provider, call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit Online Therapy to call, message, or video chat a certified therapist online. This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I may also receive compensation from Online Therapy or other sources if you purchase products or services through the links provided on this page. You can read my full disclaimer.

Although I’ve lived with mental illness my whole life, I am not a medical professional. If you need help finding a mental health care provider, call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit BetterHelp to talk to a certified therapist online at an affordable price. This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full disclaimer.

Overthinking kills our mind. We become mush because of it. It turns good things bad and bad things worse.

It’s made me second guess my relationships with the people I care about. It’s made me question the future I have with my favorite man in the world. Overthinking has even made me question my life.

A huge contributor to my constant overthinking is my struggle with anxiety. Half the time I think I’m just thinking until my boyfriend points out that I’m thinking way too much. He tells me all the time that it’s not good to overthink all the time.

Along my journey, I’ve learned that all overthinking does is kill our happiness. To combat this, here are 5 ways to help yourself keep your happiness:

5 Ways to Stop Overthinking Every Single Damn Thing

1. DISTRACT YOURSELF

Ever notice that we tend to overthink the most when we’re trying to sleep? That’s because we have nothing to distract ourselves except our own thoughts.

One of the best things we can do when our inner voice is being incredibly annoying is to put our minds to work. Clean up the house. Do a puzzle. Dance idiotically in your living room. Do whatever it takes to help distract your overthinking mind.

And hey, putting our bodies to work produces endorphins, so it can’t be all that bad.

2. PUT THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE

We hear this all the time, but life is too damn short to be worrying about every single detail of something that already happened. We don’t have time machines to change the past. And you know what? Nothing is ever going to go exactly the way we planned it, so why bother?

Trying to make everything perfect is just wasted energy. It’s only ever going to cause unhappiness. The sooner we learn how to accept that, the sooner we’ll be happier.

The most useful question I ever ask myself is will this even matter in five years? Will I even remember this a week from now? Probably not. So like I said before…why bother?

3. DON’T BLAME YOURSELF

This one goes with the above, but it’s so true. You are only one person. The only person you have control over is yourself. And just think, there are things you can’t even control about yourself. The only for sure choice you have is your reaction to something.

I didn’t choose to struggle with my many mental illnesses. But I chose to view them as positive learning experiences. In time, I learned that I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them.

Not only do you have to stop blaming yourself for things that happened, but you have got to start forgiving yourself.

Forgive yourself for something that happened all the way back in middle school. Forgive yourself for having a panic attack in front of your coworkers. Forgive yourself for all the times that made you feel like you were worthless.

You at least owe yourself that.

4. WRITE PROS AND CONS

If you’re constantly overthinking about something that’s going to happen in the future, I suggest sorting out your thoughts. I’m not talking about letting yourself continue overthinking. What I’m talking about is structured thinking.

Pick a time where you can sit down and focus strictly on your thoughts. Write about your worries. What are you so apprehensive about? What is the worst that could happen? I also want you to write about the good things you think could come out of it. What is the best thing that could happen from this experience?

If you figure out that the good outweighs the bad, then what the heck are you waiting for? Get down to bizness.

5. JUST LET IT GO

You know what? Every once in a while, you just have to tell yourself to shut the hell up.

So many of our problems would be solved if we learned to just let it go. All that overthinking is wasted energy and wasted happiness. At the end of the day, we’re just being irrational, and we know that.

As hard as it is, we have to learn to live in the here and now. You owe yourself that.

Do you have a problem with overthinking? What are the ways you try to stop it? 

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One thought on “5 Ways to Stop Overthinking Every Single Damn Thing

  1. Zeph

    I cannot tell you how many times I have become my own worst enemy.
    Knowing that it’s not just me who does this… thank you, dear Author.

    I don’t know who you are, but you have done me a world of good.

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