Overthinking can be tiring, stressful, and overwhelming. Whatever the reason you’re overthinking may be, sometimes the best thing that we can do for ourselves is take a break and become more grounded in the present moment. This can lead to not only more clarity about what matters but also keep us within a window of tolerance of where we feel calm and safe. Feeding into thoughts of worry, doubt, or anxiety only gives them more of our energy and makes the thoughts stronger in the long-term. While we may feel like figuring something out or thinking about it extensively gives us a sense of control, this relief is short-term and further perpetuates the cycle of overthinking.

Difference Between Overthinking and Decision-Making

Overthinking and decision-making may overlap for some people, making it hard to differentiate between the two. Overthinking is characterized by spending too much time or energy trying to make the perfect decision. Gathering an overwhelming amount of information in order to make a decision actually clouds thinking, slows down the process, and can lead to decision paralysis. Decision-making can be a less stressful or confusing process when overthinking is managed. It is possible to set limits on how long you think about something, and then make a decision even it feels imperfect. Ultimately, perfectionism in and of itself is imperfect, and we need to learn to become comfortable with trying our best. Whatever the outcome of the decision you make, you will be able to adapt and move forward.

Three Tools for Overthinking

The three following tools can be used anytime you are caught up in your head, are beginning to feel dysregulated, and/or need to break the overthinking cycle. It is easy to get hooked onto worried thoughts, anxious thoughts, and negative thoughts yet unhooking is possible.

The Rule of Three: The rule of three is a helpful strategy that can be used to combat overwhelm, stress or anxiety. When noticing signs in your body or mind that you are overwhelmed with information or by your thoughts, allow yourself to devote your energy to only focusing on three things at any given time. Start by visualizing a tree with three branches on it, and assign one thought or worry to each branch. After the tree is full, no additional worries are allowed to take your attention or mental space. If you’re anxious about a meeting, that’s one branch. If you’re stressed about your commute home, that’s the second branch. After that, you only have the capacity to focus on one more thing. Once your tree is at it’s limit, if another stressor arises you have to make a choice about which other branch you need to let go of to make space or decide not to worry about the new stressor. The idea here is that you can only do so much, and there is a capacity to your focus without being spread too thin.
Sensory Grounding Exercise: Sensory grounding exercises bring you back into the present moment using your senses and a focus on the external environment. A helpful strategy to shift your attention back to your surroundings and out of your head is the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise. Take a deep breath to begin. Start by looking around for 5 things that you can see and identifying them to yourself out load. Next, pay attention to your body and think of 4 things that you can feel, saying them out load to yourself again. Afterwards, listen for 3 sounds, repeating them back to yourself in the same way. Further, say 2 things you can smell. If you can’t smell anything at the moment, or you can’t move, then name your 2 favourite smells. Lastly, say one thing you can taste. If you can’t taste anything, then say your favourite thing to taste. Repeat the full exercise as needed. The goal here is to help you refocus your attention for improved coping and to engage in behaviours that align with your values.
Draw Upon Wise Mind Thinking: The wise mind is a DBT concept that can be helpful to draw upon to simplify the decision-making process. In DBT, the mind has three states which are the reasonable mind, emotional mind, and wise mind. Most people lean towards a specific state most of the time, and conflict between the emotional or wise mind might cause confusion or stress when making a decision. The wise mind is defined as a balanced state between the reasonable and emotional parts. When thinking drawing upon the wise mind, you are able to both recognize and respect your feelings about a situation, while responding to them in a rational manner. This allows for a balanced and thoughtful decision that integrates both logic and intuition.

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