Overthinking Everything? Here’s How to Stop (Before You Spiral into Existential Soup)

If you’ve ever agonised over a text message for three hours, replayed a five-second interaction from 2012, or turned a casual thought into a full-blown identity crisis, welcome. You’re not broken. You’re just overthinking everything like it’s your unpaid internship.

This one’s for the neurotic narrators, the midnight spiralers, and the people whose brains think “relax” is a threat.

TL;DR: Overthinking Isn’t Clarity, It’s Brain Burnout

• Overthinking is your brain trying to protect you, but doing it badly

• It usually leads to less clarity, not more

• Overthinking is tied to anxiety, emotional burnout, and perfectionism

• You don’t need to think more, you need to think differently

Why We Overthink (Even When We Know It Sucks)

Because it feels like control. Your brain says, “If I just analyse this a little more, I’ll feel better.”

Spoiler: you won’t. Overthinking is an emotional hamster wheel, exhausting and going nowhere.

It’s often a response to:

• Uncertainty

• Fear of failure or rejection

• Emotional exhaustion

• People-pleasing tendencies

10 Signs You’re Deep in the Overthinking Spiral

• You re-read your own texts like a literary critic

• You mentally rehearse conversations that haven’t happened

• You can’t fall asleep because your brain is busy conducting a life audit

• You ask 14 people for advice and feel worse after

• You replay awkward moments until you’ve memorised them like a script

• You obsess over how you were perceived in every interaction

• You constantly second-guess decisions, even about snacks

• You interpret silence as rejection

• You over-prepare for everything, just in case

• You need things to feel “certain” before you can act (so you rarely act)

This is emotional burnout disguised as productivity. It’s not insight, it’s mental static.

So How Do You Actually Stop Overthinking?

Let’s be real, you won’t stop overnight. But you can interrupt it.

1. Name It Out Loud
“Ah. I’m spiralling. This isn’t solving anything.”
Awareness is step one. No shame. Just name.

2. Shift from Why to What
Instead of: “Why am I like this?”
Try: “What do I need right now?”

One fuels spirals. One fuels solutions.

3. Do Something Physical
Walk. Stretch. Make toast. Move your body to get out of your head. Overthinking hates motion.

4. Time Limit Your Spiral
Set a 10-minute timer. Let yourself worry like it’s your job. When the buzzer hits? Brain clock-off.

5. Challenge the Thought
Ask: “Do I have proof this will happen?” “Would I say this to a friend?” “Is this thought helping or hurting?”

Why Overthinking Makes You Exhausted (Not Enlightened)

Because your nervous system thinks you’re in danger. Every thought becomes a threat to neutralise.

That’s cognitive fatigue. And it leads to:

• Decision paralysis

• Emotional overwhelm

• Social withdrawal

• Imposter syndrome

You’re not lazy. You’re overloaded.

Bonus: Things That Feel Like Clarity but Are Actually Overthinking

• Making 12 pros and cons lists

• Replaying a conversation on loop

• Asking 7 friends what you should do

• Googling symptoms of every emotion you feel

• Editing a DM 9 times before hitting send

This isn’t clarity. It’s control wearing a lab coat.

What to Do Instead

Pick the Next Tiny Step
Big steps trigger spirals. Tiny steps move you forward without inviting your brain to panic.

Ask “What’s the kindest thing I can do for myself right now?”
Kindness cuts through the noise.

Let Good Enough Be Good Enough
Perfectionism feeds overthinking. Done is better than dissected.

Accept That Clarity Comes From Action
Not thought. Not spirals. Movement. Even small.