The modern world is full of distractions. We have instant information to calamities that makes us scared, comparing our life to our peers endlessly that makes us miserable.

We have too many opportunities to choose from and instead of taking one—we get paralyzed by analyzing and overthinking about what’s better when the better option is to choose not delay.

Too much information causes you to overanalyze and keeps you paralyzed.

Indecision is the modern world’s sickness. Too many paths to walk and little time to no time to explore each one. The key is to understand that your fears are valid and running away from them is not an option.

To conform and keep living in a scared manner is a sickness many people get trapped into. If you keep making excuses you will continue getting the fear hammer.

The greatest benefit about being able to manage your tendency to overthink is you start to romanticize life. You start to notice little things that didn’t matter before but now you appreciate them. You start to appreciate the fresh air when you sit in the balcony. You start to be more authentic and remember good memories. You don’t let your mind bully you by reminding you of your faults. Good things come when you fix your mental health.

When I had OCD 4 years ago it was miserable. Each one of my actions consisted that “if I don’t do what my brain is telling me to do my family will die”. No I’m not joking.

This is the reason why I’ve grown so fast despite being in my 20’s. I’ve suffered too deeply. I’ve seen a glimpse of what it’s like to be hopeless. I was stuck, fearful and didn’t know what to do.

My first breakthrough came when I discovered stoicism. I learned our thoughts is not who we are but our actions. I was living a life that was full of fear. I would walk in my neighborhood thinking someone would stab me. I would jog and think someone would shoot me.

Overthinking kills your strength, soul and self. It’s the shittiest problem you can have. It’s your demons trying to kill you metaphysically. Your demons are not real but they affect your actions and how you behave physically.

This is why I want to address that overthinking kills the best of man. Indecision, doubting your judgements and not being able to believe in yourself is self-betrayal.

You become your worst enemy.

However you can overcome it. Just like how I overcame it I will help you do the same.

Your mind lies

We often believe what our mind says. We believe it because it came from us. We try to understand why it’s true despite knowing it’s false. That’s because—as humans we have evolved to sense danger and believe it.

Your ancestors have dealt with savagery, death, famine and catastrophe non-stop. The world we live in is different. We are able to live peacefully with laws. Back then, plundering and killing other people to steal their resources is the norm.

That’s why you are doubtful of other people. You feel as if they will betray you because that’s how your mind is built.

You feel scared about what might happen. Because your mind knows danger lurks everywhere. Your grandparents lived through world war II and those psychological traumas pass on us involuntarily.

We know the horrors of war that’s why we avoid it.

We’ve made mistakes. We’ve made accomplishments. And each one of those is saved in our mind. We are not safe even from our mind.

And that’s why mitigating and questioning whether what our mind is saying whether true or not is important.

When you get attacked by overthinking—sit with it.

Learn to question whether what your mind is saying is true or not. And if it’s not true, dismiss it. And if it is true ask yourself; “what can I learn from this”?, “what is my mind trying to tell me that I don’t understand’?

Instead of criticizing yourself non-stop, learn to manage it instead. There’s no merit to hurting yourself mentally.

Beware of Identity: Is your identity built up of lies?

The more you lie to yourself about who you are the more you will increase the intensity of overthinking. No man ever accomplishes victory over himself if he lies about himself.

The magnitude of truth that you can take is proportional to how much you are able to grow.

Despite knowing this—many will still lie over themselves because lying is sweet and truth is bitter.

The mistakes we’ve made are hard to accept. The insecurities we have is hard to un-learn.

An identity built up on lies will crumble. There is not one real strong foundation. And because nothing is real—a simple insult of truth will get the best of you. See the people who boast and are egotistical.

Watch someone insult them and they become an emotional mess.

If you don’t own your insecurities; the things you hate about yourself you will be a slave to other people who can push your buttons.

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Regain your mental clarity

The reason so many people suck at overcoming overthinking is because they have brain fog and bad mental health.

When you have both, it’s impossible to be clear on what you should fix. Brain fog makes you unable to think properly.

Your mind drifts and you get daydreams and often get sucked deep into it.

A bad mental health makes you think everything is depressing and you become cynical. Nothing is worth doing since you see the world through a gloomy lens.

The fix is simple. It’s not medication, drugs or alcohol.

It’s journaling and meditation.

Those who do not believe they can improve their mind with good habits are people who do not understand the power of consistency.

When you force your brain to think positively despite harsh circumstances—you are able to regain clarity and get back on track. Journaling is about listening to your mind whatever it says and writing it on paper to get a clear view on it.

When you journal, you should not perform for a non-existent audience but you should write for your own self.

When you journal - do not lie. Do not create false memories. And do not try to blur the line between lies and truth.

To see clearly what it really is that you lack and want to fix is the answer to overthinking. Meditation allows you to control your thoughts and manage them.

When thoughts come—our first response is to believe or deny.

With meditation, we are able to manage this by questioning and pausing. When you notice a thought popping up, understand that you do not need to believe it nor bury it.

You simply need to be aware of its existence and not judge. You will say “Oh look at this my brain is making me remember cringe memories I did 5 years ago”. Then you don’t react. You remain calm and it will pass.

Then another thought will come. You rinse and repeat until you build and callous your mind. Until you train yourself to be aware and mindful—you will repeat the process over and over again.

Overthinking gets the best of men. It makes you fail tests, lose friendships and worse of all you become stagnant.

Because fear is strong. It grips our minds and neck with psychological pressure. It disables our rational thinking and lets the emotional brain wreak havoc.

Your job is to cleanse your brain with meditation and journaling. You must clean it bit by bit. You will need to travel deep into your mind to find the cause.

Cutting the symptoms helps—however at the end of the day if your mental health is bad—no matter how much progress you make—you will once again fall into the misery of overthinking again and again..

Clarity comes when your mind is able to generate healthy thoughts. Until then you will have to claw your way up and up until the number of times you get back up is higher than the number of times you fall down.

Good luck.

Action Step

• Change your attitude. Every time you notice overthinking gets the best of you—pause and do 5 deep breaths. This allows you to reset your nervous system and makes your body calm down. Using this trick in stressful situations increases your mental clarity.

• Journaling- This time you will journal about your fears. This involves 2 pages. In one side you will write “My fear” and on the right side you will write “My strengths”. The key here is to be aware. You can only vanquish or kill your overthinking if you become aware of what is the problem. My problem back then was bad mental health. I would have compulsive thoughts and if I didn’t do what my body said then my body would enter reactive mode. The fix was simple. It was to understand that not following my brain was okay. My family won’t die and I will be alright. The first few times are the hardest. But as time goes on you build up resistance.

• 5 second inhale and 5 second exhale breathing- This is a simple deep breathing exercise that I’ve done plenty in the past. I also do double deep breathing where I inhale for about 9 seconds then push through and inhale again then exhale for about 9 seconds. This calms me every time. It just works. I do this 10 times when I finish working out and I always feel so refreshed.

• Talk to a friend- You shouldn’t just talk to anyone but someone you can trust. Ask them “How many times do you think overthinking stopped me from getting new opportunities?” oftentimes we cannot see our mistakes. And those around us are able to see the things we have missed completely. You can also do this alone by asking yourself. Don’t lie though. It doesn’t help.

That’s it.

See you next time,

-Noat

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