Hi, my name is Cherise and I am an over-thinker. Seriously, over-thinking is my thing.The first step is admittance, right?
It works to my advantage sometimes. For instance, when planning events, I can imagine all possible outcomes and prepare for that worst case scenario. Needless to say, this keeps me up at night because my brain never stops.
When I was younger, I was always your trusty over achiever. I got good grades and was a perfectionist, who was afraid of failure. I was practically a walking cliché.
With thirty four years of over-thinking experience, I consider myself an expert on the topic. Naturally, those who can’t do, teach 🙂 So I’m using this blog post to try to stop over-thinking and help anyone else in the process.
Here are the tips that I am trying to employ in order to keep my over-thinking to a minimum:
Talk it out: My husband can tell you that I can talk. It could be my profession. Technically, working in the hospitality industry is usually a lot of talking, so I fit into my job quite well. Sometimes just saying the words out loud can help me organize my thoughts and having a sounding board can really make me realize when I am being ridiculous.
Have a mantra/affirmation: When I was pregnant, a friend told me that during my labour, I should remember that “this too shall pass”. This was an affirmation that I repeated over and over with each contraction. It got me through. Mantras are used during meditation for higher consciousness, so why can’t we use them to train our mind during our regular life. Maybe you have to hum Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds or scream it at the top of your lungs. Hey, whatever works lol.
Face Reality – Maybe it’s just that you need to face the reality that you cannot control everything. This is a big deal for a control freak like me. Accepting that I’m not in control is like jumping out of a plane or of a cliff. It’s a huge leap for me. Hopefully, I can deploy my parachute 🙂
Find an outlet – It could be working out, painting, playing a sport, cooking, reading, watching a movie. The possibilities are endless. Find something that you enjoy and do it to settle your mind.
Be Mindful in the present– Over-thinking is often focused on something that you did in the past or something that is coming up in the future. While you are worrying about the past and the future, the present is happening right now.
How do you cope with over-thinking?
xxx
Cherise
Curly Girly 