Overthinking is said to be the root of all mental health issues so it’s definitely worth understanding what exactly is overthinking and whether you are experiencing it. The term is commonly thrown around out of context and it causes people confusion about their own thoughts. Read through below and next time you spot yourself or someone else overthinking something you’ll be able to help them re-align their thoughts.

There is no such thing as thinking too much, you are always thinking and even if there are fewer or more thoughts you’re processing thoughts constantly. We need to understand how we are thinking about a certain matter and that’s where understanding the difference between ‘constant thinking’ and ‘overthinking’ is essential. Constant thinking is when you think about a matter constantly and is a healthy habit but overthinking is when you think about the thought constantly, this leads to confusion which is the root of doubtful thinking.

Overthinking is known as the art of creating a problem out of nothing. It happens from the inability to trust your thoughts. If you find yourself rethinking a decision or thinking about the decision you once trusted or finalised then you are essentially re-thinking. If you are struggling to make a decision then you can go down the route of constant thinking to make sure you gather the right options but if you go down the route of overthinking you’ll limit yourself to a few options and dwell on them until you confuse your emotions towards them.  

Constant thinking will lead you to dwelling on the matter and finding different ways to assess the matter, helpful thoughts are led by ‘why’ and ‘when’ based questions. Overthinking-based thoughts are led by ‘what if’ and ‘Can I?” based questions. This is because you are questioning the person or resource generating the thought.

Whether you understand the two concepts of constant thinking or overthinking, always know the end goal is to be thinking in a productive way. Overthinking is helpful for story writers and constant thinking is helpful for scientists. If overthinking is becoming an issue for you must try the following two points you to help overcome the matter but if you have a habit then that would require long term assistance.  

(1)Trusting the source: When you doubt the person’s advice you took, that is when you’ll need to think a lot more about something. If that someone who made the decision is you then you have to build trust in your ability to make good decisions. Trust building is done by reducing the negatives attached to the person and increasing positive references attached to the person.

(2)Referencing correctly: “what are the facts and how accurate are they?” Once you have this then you’ll be more willing to talk to someone because you don’t feel ashamed of looking lost in front of another person. A fresh perspective from a trusted individual will help greatly.

Thinking logically is a common go-to option for overthinking issues but that is a short-term fix. In the long-term, if you have a habit of becoming emotionally attached/detached based on certain thinking then you have an area of life that holds a trigger or emotional instability. If it affects your ability to trust yourself then you’ll continually run into overthinking habits.

If you have further questions feel free to reach out and if you need assistance on how to help someone close to you we can run through that as well.

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