The Overthinker’s Guide to Getting Sh*t Done

You ever get woken up by your thoughts? Even worse, you ever feel yourself thinking in your sleep?

If so, I can relate.

It wasn’t until parasites took over my body last summer that I learned how stressed my nervous system was. That knowledge entirely changed my perspective on overthinking.

I’ve spent the past year learning how to calm my nervous system and now take overthinking as an indicator that my nervous system is stressed. Once it starts, my body is like “Alert! 🚨 We gotta calm down!”

Here are 3 steps that I take to help my brain STFU.

1. Be still. I no longer try to force my thoughts to stop; I instead focus on my physical body. I’ll take a seat or even lay down and start to focus on my breath. If the thoughts continue (and they usually do), I just let them flow until they stop. For as long as I can, I stay focused on my breath until I feel I’m ready to move again.
2. I reevaluate my consumption. We usually hear this in regards to social media, but I mean diet. I take a step back and reflect on what I’ve been putting into my body. Have I been nourishing myself? Am I drinking too much caffeine? Have I been numbing my thoughts with alcohol? If necessary, I’ll even make a list of everything I’ve ingested in the past couple of days and highlight what needs to go (even if it’s just temporary).
3. I reevaluate my circle. You are a product of your energetic environment. While we can’t always control who we have to interact with, we can control how and when we interact with them. Pay attention to how the people around you make you feel. If when you leave someone you find your body stressed and those thoughts on a million, it’s time to limit that interaction. If instead you find yourself feeling light and fuzzy when you leave someone, aim to spend more time with those kind of people. (No energy vampire vibes though, be sure you pour into them as much as they pour into you.)

If you need tips for cleaning up your circle, here’s a podcast maed just for you!

Stay calm,
Maegan