Overthinking can be an act of excessively dwelling on a particular thought, problem, or situation. There can be many different forms of how it can manifest in our lives, such as trying to be a perfectionist, worrying about the future, replaying different scenarios and even self-doubt. In the realm of mental health awareness, the concept of overthinking is often ignored, however, it can have serious consequences such as stress, anxiety and even depression. Now take your time to reflect on all this information, does any of this sound familiar to you? If it does, let’s take a deeper look into this.
Overthinking has many different causes, and it is essential to be aware of its origin in our own lives. Here are some of them:
With all these examples given, think of a time when you have been stressed. How did you respond to it, did you ignore it or act on it?
The consequences section will describe, why we might have this habit and then visualise what happens after.
With how complex our brains and lives are, there are hundreds of ways in which overthinking can stem from. More so, it is important to understand where our overthinking can lead us. Initially overthinking is very satisfying, it gives us the perception that we are in control of our future. This might be useful at the start, but as it drags on it can hinder our own lives.
For instance, stressing about how difficult an exam is, can just waste a whole day of productivity because we spend most of our time unproductively thinking. Now I know that a lot of people who use the Trilogy Tutors website are students and we all can relate to this one very well. Sometimes the tasks given to us from school can be very challenging, so we might have one go. We spend tireless amount of energy on it, so the next time the task approaches it can be very intimidating and be put off by it. During this time, our minds can be very resistant and come up with a million excuses to remain in their comfort zone. It is only when we are in threat of true failure, such as weeks before GCSEs and A-levels, that we begin to act. In this scenario, it is always best to act instantly on what we want to do productively. The moment we begin to think and come up with excuses is when we drain our energy and procrastinate heavily.
Being traumatised from an experience may make us look out for the next bad scenario in our lives. The good occasions that happen may seem undeserving. For example, Youtubers Danny and Michael Philippou, also known as RackaRacka, made their directorial debut in the new horror movie “Talk to Me” (released July 2023). The film became highly successful with its reviews and its performance in the box office. However, in an interview, they stated that with the level of success that the film had, it felt too good to be true. Their rationale stemmed from the hardships they faced in the initial days, such as their inability to generate income from YouTube videos they had heavily invested in. This led to a belief that their entire lives would unfold similarly, but they later emphasised that this mindset was not appropriate, and life would improve as time progressed on. When you begin to get scared of what may happen in the future, ask yourself: “What is the evidence that supports my belief?”
Perfectionism is also a very big cause for overthinking. To help understand how perfectionism is a factor, I will describe my personal experience from where it started. Ever since I was a kid, I have been obsessed with getting the highest grades in school because I will be rewarded for it. Now this started up the whole notion of perfecting how I do in school, but there was a particular event which set off how my overthinking was harmful due to perfectionism.
When I was 15, me and my friends were finally let out to go and watch the new Guardians of the Galaxy film, but we weren’t allowed in because the workers did not believe that we were old enough and thought that were 11 years old. Now that one opportunity was ruined because we forgot to bring our ID, but from that one simple situation, I have been obsessed with having the perfect plan so that everything goes right. This all sounds fine until plans start to go wrong and that’s when my emotions can drastically deteriorate.
We need to understand that the plans we make, have likely chances of going wrong. So, what we can do is we can learn from our mistakes or be glad that some plans have been cancelled for our good. At the end of the day, it will be very unhealthy to dwell on it and ruin how we feel throughout the day.
Is exercise part of your weekly routine? Do you try and follow a daily routine? When was the last time you practiced gratitude or meditated? Now these are solutions that have been proven to reduce the level of anxiety which in turn also reduces the level of overthinking. However, how often have you encountered suggestions or recommendations that include these solutions? Did they genuinely have positive results?
These solutions can be considered cliché, with how many times they have been reinstated but have no true effect on our lives. There is a chance that the habit of overthinking and our anxiety may never disappear. Therefore, we need to develop a mindset that will ease the overthinking and not ruin a whole day.
I have dealt with a lot of overthinking which has affected my day-to-day life significantly hence why I am writing this topic and is a close topic of mine. I asked myself, “How would I advise (my closest friend, my child, my mother) if they found themselves in this situation? What tone or manner of speaking should I have?” With that in mind, I can apply this to different scenarios. For example, if I truly cared about how someone would judge me. It might appear quite intimidating when it comes to our situations, but if someone dear to us were facing the same scenario, they would likely find it far less challenging, after receiving our guidance.
We live by making mistakes, and missing opportunities. This does not mean the world is against you but there is something better in store that you cannot see yet. You do not have to answer to every situation and feeling you have. Be grateful for everything you have, focus on the present moment, and let time heal all. It is easier said than done, but hopefully, this blog has opened your perspective.
