Stop Ovethinking. Seriously.

This morning, when I opened up my 15th tab in Firefox, Google recommended an article - "11 Mental Tricks to Stop Overthinking Everything."

Now, I don't want to say that I'm an overthinker, but I've literally just spent the past three minutes overthinking whether or not overthinking is one word or two words when nobody out there reading this cares, but I was an English major and that seems to be laden with a life-time responsibility to never get anything grammatically wrong, even though I constantly get many things grammatically wrong.

So yeah...I overthink things like it's my job. Is there such thing as an Overthink Tank? Are they hiring?

Anywho, here's the first piece of advice from said-article:

1. Know that problem solving and overthinking aren't the same thing.

Wait...what?

Recognize when you’re overthinking something, don’t act like it’s problem solving, and press fast-forward.

Oh....is that all I've had to do all of these years? Just hit fast forward??? Silly me. I didn't realize that my mind was, in fact, a yellow Sony Walkman from the 80's. Or a discman from the 90's that skipped when you tried to wear it around your waist on a run. So I just hit that lil' ol' button and my mind will just jump to the next thing like skipping from Kenny Loggins to Pat Bentar.

I appreciate what you're trying to do here fella' - I really do. But if I could just stop overthinking, I wouldn't be reading your article for tips.

Let's see if this gets better...

2. Remember the 90-10 rule - you should calculate 90% of how you value yourself based on your own self-worth and 10% on assigned worth. 90% of how you think about yourself should come from your own self-acceptance and self-appreciation.

And...scrolling to the top of the article...

Yes, this article was written by a man.

With apologies to the handful of men on this email list (sorry Dad), very few women I know can just flip a switch and just start rolling around in their self-worth like Scrooge McDuck swan diving into his gold. While I appreciate the idea here, this is less of an actual tip you can implement today, and probably more of a topic you can address with your therapist or life coach next time around.

3. Assume good intent.

Ah - okay Scott.

I'm going to rephrase this for you and say, stop telling yourself stories. Now there's some solid advice. This day and age of digital communication is rife with opportunities for misunderstanding. And, as social work researcher Brene Brown often reminds us, humans have a need for stories. So in the absence of information, our minds need to fill in the blank with a story.

And it's usually the wrong story.

While I think it's good practice to assume good intent, our minds aren't really wired to do that - so if at all possible, invite a conversation with whatever person or situation you're overthinking.

4. Do the math.

"Overthinking also comes from over-worrying about the worse-case scenario, which of course no one wants to experience. But ask yourself, “What is the probability the undesirable outcome will actually occur?” Odds are, not very high."

Um...let me introduce you, Scott, to my alter-ego Worst Case Scenario Wilma. You know what doesn't work when she's flying high?

Being rational. Wilma doesn't listen to rationality. That's why I named her. Because I can't get rid of her.

5. Get outside and play.

Yes, I'm with you on this one Scott. Although I would rephrase it as "get out of your *&^%***&& head. Distraction is an excellent coping strategy, and one of the best strategies out there to stick a fork in your spinning wheel of anxiety.

Now, have an amazing day.

I'm off to go overthink this post....