I remember one night—like 2:13 AM, very specific because of course I checked the clock 17 times—lying in bed trying to figure out how to let go of stress and overthinking… while actively overthinking the fact that I was overthinking.
Yeah.
That spiral.
You ever replay a conversation from three years ago and suddenly decide you were awkward?
Same.
And then your brain goes:
“Why did you say that??”
“Do they still think about that??”
“Should you apologize??”
At 2 AM.
To someone you haven’t spoken to since 2021.
Cool. Love that for us.
The Brain Doesn’t Have an Off Switch (I checked)
If overthinking had a sound, mine would be like 14 people talking at once in a small room… plus one random song lyric looping in the background for no reason.
It’s not even useful thoughts most of the time.
It’s stuff like:
- Imaginary arguments
- Worst-case scenarios that belong in a movie
- Things that haven’t happened… and probably won’t
But your brain treats them like urgent breaking news.
The Moment I Realized… This Is Exhausting
There was this one day I spent hours stressing about sending a simple text.
A text.
It wasn’t even dramatic. Just:
“Hey, are we still on for tomorrow?”
I rewrote it like 12 times.
Added emojis. Removed emojis. Added punctuation. Removed punctuation.
At one point I thought:
“Should I just not text at all??”
And then I just sat there like…
“What am I doing?”
That was the moment.
Not some big life event.
Just me… battling a text message.
🧠 Why We Overthink Everything (Even Dumb Stuff)
Okay, super non-scientific explanation:
Your brain thinks it’s helping.
It’s like:
“Let’s analyze every possible outcome so nothing goes wrong!”
But instead it turns into:
“Let’s create problems that don’t exist yet and stress about those too!”
Very helpful. Thanks.
It’s basically a protection system that got a little… out of control.
Like a security alarm that goes off when a leaf moves.
The Trick I Learned (After Failing at Literally Everything Else)
I used to think the goal was to stop thinking.
Which… lol.
That’s not happening.
So instead, I started doing something different:
I stopped arguing with my thoughts.
Yep.
Because every time I tried to fight them, they got louder.
Like:
Brain: “What if this goes wrong?”
Me: “No it won’t!”
Brain: “BUT WHAT IF—”
You see the problem.
So What Actually Helped? (Not Perfectly, but enough)
🧩 1. I Let the Thought Exist (ugh, I know)
Instead of:
“Stop thinking that!”
I tried:
“Okay… that’s a thought.”
That’s it.
No drama. No debate.
And weirdly? It lost some power.
Not completely.
But enough.
✍️ 2. I Started Dumping My Thoughts Somewhere
Journaling sounds fancy.
What I did was more like:
Aggressively writing nonsense in a notebook.
Half sentences. Random worries. Things like:
“Why am I like this”
“Did I reply weird??”
“I should sleep”
No structure.
No grammar.
Just… brain dump.
And it helped clear space.
🚶♂️ 3. I Moved My Body (even when I didn’t want to)
Not gym. Not workouts.
Just:
- Walking
- Stretching
- Pacing around like a confused NPC
Because when your body moves, your brain chills out a bit.
It’s not magic.
But it’s something.
📵 4. I Stopped Feeding the Spiral
You know what makes overthinking worse?
Google.
Seriously.
One small worry turns into:
10 tabs → 37 worst-case scenarios → full anxiety mode
So now I try (keyword: try) to not immediately search everything.
My brain doesn’t need more fuel.
The “Will This Matter in 5 Days?” Test
This one changed things for me.
Whenever I start spiraling, I ask:
“Will this matter in 5 days?”
If yes—okay, maybe deal with it.
If no—why am I giving it this much energy??
Sometimes I even go:
5 weeks. 5 months.
Half the time the answer is:
“Absolutely not.”
And that snaps me out of it… a little.
The Weird Comfort of Saying “I Don’t Know”
I used to NEED answers.
For everything.
Now I’ve started saying:
“I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
And instead of panicking… I just let that be the answer.
Because honestly?
Most of life is uncertain anyway.
Might as well stop pretending I can predict everything.
Conversations I’ve Had With Myself (Not Proud, But Effective)
“Hey… you’re doing that thing again.”
“What thing?”
“The overthinking thing.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Maybe stop.”
“Okay but what if—”
“No.”
…awkward silence…
But it works.
Sometimes.
Things That Didn’t Work (for me, at least)
Let’s be real.
Not everything helps.
I tried:
- Forcing positive thoughts (felt fake)
- Ignoring stress completely (it came back louder)
- Trying to “fix” every thought (exhausting)
Turns out, the goal isn’t to control everything.
It’s to… loosen your grip a little.
Random but Helpful: Distraction Isn’t Always Bad
Hot take:
Distraction gets a bad reputation.
But sometimes?
Watching something funny or texting a friend is exactly what you need.
Your brain doesn’t always need deep healing.
Sometimes it just needs a break.
Go watch random clips from Brooklyn Nine-Nine or something.
Jake Peralta will fix at least 12% of your problems.
A Couple Things Worth Checking Out
- Tiny Buddha (super simple reads about letting go and mental clarity)
- Also, if you’ve never seen memes about overthinking… you should. It’s weirdly comforting knowing everyone else is also spiraling over texts.