Overthinking holds you back from doing all the amazing things life has in store for you. It is time to stop overthinking.

Have you ever wanted to do something really badly, but you ended up NOT doing it because you talked yourself out of it? And afterwards, you regretted not having done it? Yup. That’s what I meant by my opening statement. But don’t worry, you’re not alone. Also, overthinking is a habit that you can change like any other habit there is. Let’s dive in!

Overthinking is a common issue

Overthinking is a common issue of humanity. It comes with a lot of mental stress and when it goes to extremes, it can slowly slip you into a negative thinking spiral that’s hard to escape. Overthinking means simply thinking too much.

And too much of something never is that good.

Why do we overthink?

We love thinking. We love being smart and able to reason. Also, we love looking for explanations for everything.

So far so good, it’s okay to like thinking, especially because it also keeps us safe from doing dangerous things, but over the time, we have started to accustom to it too much, and it has become normal to think everything through. Now we struggle to do anything without thinking.

The problems with overthinking

Whatever we do, there is a whole lot of thinking involved, and this actually lowers our life standard. Here are some problems of overthinking:

• We miss the actual experience of life because we are spending it in our head.

This means we are never present in the Now. We are thinking about the past, the future, potential problems, potential situations, you name it. Basically, we miss our lives because we’re always present in another time zone that’s always unreal.

• We are full of fears that hold us back

Thoughts create our feelings. Fear is a feeling. Thoughts create fear. By overthinking, you not only create more fears than necessary, you also decide to keep dwelling in them and make them a reason to stay where you are safe.

• We never get out of our comfort zone

We stay where we are, we get stuck and bored. Like this, we do things because we are accustomed to do them, and life turns into a routine. Why don’t we break out? Because we overthink it instead of just doing it. We stay where we are because it is comfortable and it helps us actually think less. But what we miss is that breaking out to start something new does not HAVE to be complicated. It is just our mind telling us it is.

• We slip into a negative mindset

Negative thinking mostly comes from being unhappy. What makes us unhappy? Overthinking. A negative mindset is the result of overthinking. And a negative mindset plus even more thinking? Bad combo.

Find out the 11 secrets to a more positive mindset here, or learn a little about mindset patterns that prevent you happiness here.

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Now, let’s dive into my 9 ways to stop overthinking once and for all.

9 ways to stop overthinking

1. Trust more

Trust is the solution to so many things, but especially for overthinking. Overthinking means worrying. How can we worry less? By trusting more.

I always preach how important it is to trust in life, in yourself and in the process. It is also the number one way to boost your self-confidence, and it is also useful to connect to yourself. In general you can say it makes life a whole lot easier.

I tell you why you should trust more: The universe has your back. Everything will work out and everything happens as it is supposed to happen. You can make the process easier by just trusting and letting go of worry.

Every time something is worrying me or I don’t feel good, I quickly realize that it is the trust in life that I am missing. What I do then is to take some deep breaths and remind myself that everything is going to work out fine and life is a process that I need to trust and allow.

2. Talk to people and ask for help

Don’t shy away from reaching out to your friends for help. Meet up with them and tell them about your worries. Do you want to know what they will do in response?

They will show you that your worries are unnecessary. They will get you back down onto your feet and explain you you’re overthinking it. You will realize you’ve been spending too much time in your head, and that life actually does not have to be as difficult as you made it.

3. Do brain dumps

What’s a brain dump? Well, you basically just dump your brain. Take a journal and write it all down. ALL of it. Get out all of the unnecessary thoughts. Once your hand starts hurting, you know you’re overthinking. (Kidding, that actually depends on your hand fitness) Like this, you bring it all in front of your eyes and by reading it, you will be able to realize how much of it is unnecessary. By reading your thoughts, you gain more clarity and understand the situation better.

4. Go outside

We are part of nature, because that’s where we come from. So when you keep getting stuck in your head, make it a habit to go out into nature and go for a walk or some other physical activity. It will increase your oxygen level in your bloos, give you some fresh air to breathe and generally take the burden off your brain and your chest. Trust me, you must give it a try.

5. Just do it

Cliche, I know. But still such valuable advice. It’s this one phrase you need to remind yourself of every time you have a new idea that could benefit you. Even before you start contemplating whether you should or shouldn’t do it. That’s the moment you should JUST DO IT.

Just doing it will make your life exciting again. It will help you get out of a rut and out of your comfort zone. It will help you LIVE.

6. 5-second-rule

This is a strategy found by Mel Robbins. She talks about the 5 second gap between a great idea that pops up in your head and the time you start hesitating. It is a great tool to switch from thinking to doing, get out of procrastination and worry and just START. Listen to this interview with Mel Robbins on the Impact Theory to find out more.

7. Your thoughts define your life

I’m now getting a bit tough on you. But I want to make someting clear to you:

You decide how you are feeling, you decide your own destiny, you decide your life standard. It is all you. So everything bad, boring, hard, annoying… it is all created by you.

I know this is hard to digest, because you would not actually want to make your own life complicated and hard, right?

Now there is no excuse anymore for you to continue overthinking. Because, as you’ve just thought… you would not actually make your life hard on purpose.

But you do. And now that you are aware of that, you will want to change it as quickly as possible. So, one more time:

You have the power over your life. Use that power wisely.

8. Be openminded

Stay openminded. Meet the world with new eyes every day. Be ready to be surprised by the beauty in this world. An open mind is a light mind, with less judgment, more contentment and more will to discover new things and go beyond limits. Look for what you don’t know yet, and don’t let overthinking lay a shadow over your eyes filled with the magic of this world.

9. Stop minding other people’s thoughts

Thinking about what other people think only adds to the amount of thoughts already in your head that are produced only by you. And there are a lot of those other people. So you better stop doing it, not only because of these reasons, but also because it adds a HUGE number of worries into your life.

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Practice, practice, practice

Of course, this is not a change to be made from one day to another. You can’t expect from yourself to change a habit you’ve developed over years in a matter of days. It will probably take you some time to make this work and really stop overthinking once and for all.

But you will manage to overcome the overthinking habit if you commit to it, because you now know you have all the power to design your own life, and there is no reason for you to keep overthinking like you do. The most important thing: Trust.

Then, get it all out, realize how unnecessary most of it is, get fresh air, and start JUST DOING IT. Take all your great ideas, make use of the 5 second rule to get you started, and GO FOR THEM. Stay open in the process and embrace the beauty of this world. That’s how you stop overthinking!

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If you have any more suggestions for how to stop overthinking, feel free to write them into the comment box below, I would love to read them!

Love,