What story have you been telling yourself today?
Over-thinking… sound familiar?! 🙋‍♀️ So common, and at a very real cost to our mental health.
Much (not all, but, a lot) of our stress is (when we step back and evaluate it objectively) self-created. It’s the same thought-loops or stories we have told ourselves over and over about how we are letting someone down / not good enough in some way / something is going to go wrong / so and so we will be upset. These catastrophising stories can run on repeat in our heads, creating anxiety and stress. It’s the over-thinking “What ifs” that drag us down.
A really helpful tip can be getting these endless anxiety-inducing stories out of your head, and onto paper.
Yes, I literally mean get a pen and paper out and write down verbatim what’s going round and round in your head.
I know you think you don’t have time, but, honey, you do. You have likely been overthinking and stressing about Issue X for a day/a week/ a freaking year…you DEFINITELY have 10 minutes to get those thought loops down on paper.
Once you look at them in black and white it’s a lot (and I mean A LOT) easier to slow the over-thinking down, and evaluate them with a more considered perspective:
Is that really true? Is that a fact?
Where’s the evidence of that?
What’s the percentage likelihood of that ever occurring?
If that did happen how would I handle it?
When have I handled something similar successfully before?
Is this even my responsibility?
The problem isn’t that we are thinking – it’s HOW we are thinking.
Pull out a pen and paper (or use the notes page in your phone), acknowledge that thinking, and then assess that story for truth, likelihood, responsibility and your capability.
Overthinking. Let’s do something ABOUT IT today.
