Are You Chronically Overthinking?

This is why and what you can do about it

Every now and again I get a client in front of me that says something along these lines: “Oh man, I think so much, my mind is always busy. At night I don’t sleep well because I just can’t let it go. I try, I know I should but, I just seem not to be able to.”

Usually, this statement comes from an exhausted face and tense shoulders with a sense of underlying distress. People who overthink crave for peace, for the ability to be able to quieten their minds and breathe freely. Instead, it seems they are caught in this endless cycle and no matter what they do, especially trying to let go of their minds, it just creates more tension and stress.

Oh gosh! I remember being caught in some of those moments. It’s not a fun place to be. I’m sure you can relate, too. And if you have been caught in this for a while, you know it becomes even harder to break free from it the longer we are in this state. That’s usually where the burn out’s start.

In German, we have an expression: “Es ist zum Mausemelken” which means (literally): “It’s as frustrating as milking a mouse”. If ever frustration could be put into an image, I think this expression does a great job of it.

Now, we can get very hard on ourselves for feeling the way we do. Especially in the ‘western’ world where we have information and ‘how to’s’ at our fingertips 24/7 about everything. We seem to know it all and still struggle anyway.

We think that understanding something is all we need to fix it. Maybe it’s a legacy from Descartes who famously said:

This shows a worldview in which the very foundation of our being is set in thinking. Thought is the beginning and the end! But is this true?

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