Your thoughts create emotions and it is easy to be plagued with negative emotions like fear, worry, and stress by overthinking on a certain matter.
When you overthink, you reflect on a past action that resulted in negative consequences. Then, you start to worry about all the things that could possibly go wrong in the future.
This behaviour is said to be self-sabotaging when it creates problems and interferes with long-standing goals. With each passing thought, you feel yourself sinking into a low mood. If this sounds like you, you may be suffering from overthinking.
Below are 4 ways overthinking damages your mental health:
1. Mental fatigue
This is the first impact. When you overthink, it tires your mind resulting in mental fatigue which leads to fatigue in body or the feeling of “I don’t feel like doing anything today.”
2. Restricts productive thinking
When you overthink, you actively prohibit your mind from thinking about productive, useful solutions to the problem and this is the second step towards ruination your mental health.
3. Anxiety and depression
Anxiety comes from worrying about the future, and depression comes from worrying about the past. Overthinking about the future prevents you from being in the present moment. Too much anxiety can make you miserable and mentally exhausted; therefore, you will feel exhausted and sometimes depressed because your life is being caged in your emotions that were created by excessive thinking.
What can you do to avoid it?
If you find any of these relatable, here are some helpful tools I would recommend you to practice:
• Take actions by dealing with your ruminating thoughts
Putting something off can be a trigger for even more rumination and the best way to reduce is to take action wherever possible. If it’s a stressful situation to deal with, take small steps to solve it. Deal and get done with it.
• Another way to reduce overthinking is to identify your triggers
For one week, specifically identify when and where you ruminate. Keep a note of the time, what you are doing and where you are. See if you can change your habits at that particular time and location in order to reduce excessive thinking.
• Practicing mindfulness meditation helps you focus on simple tasks
Taking note of sight, sound, smell and touch. It sounds simple but it can be a great tool.
• You need to understand that it is okay to seek help from an expert
When you think that nothing is working out for you, visit an expert without worrying about what people might think. Going to an expert does not mean you’re crazy in fact, it is the smartest thing you could do in such situations.
