Four strategies to manage Anxiety and overthinking

Being unable to stop thinking about something or someone (also known as worrying or rumination) can be a very distressing symptom of anxiety. It’s exhausting and scary to feel as though you are not in control of your thoughts. Anxiety can affect anyone, but some people are surprised to learn that it is a common grief reaction.

Overthinking can also have a big impact on our relationships, work, hobbies and family life - either because we are constantly analysing these things, or because we are distracted by our worries and can’t focus on what’s happening in the present.

Managing your anxiety and rumination isn’t a one size fits all situation, but hopefully you will find at least one of these strategies useful.

1. Set aside a time to worry

Some people find it helpful to dedicate specific time each day to worry. This means you don’t have to stop worrying entirely, but can reduce and control how much worrying you do each day.

Pick a time that you will spend 15-30 mins each day thinking about your worries. It’s very important that you have another activity scheduled afterwards. Early evening is often good, because you may have to make dinner or put kids to bed afterwards.

Choose a space that you don’t ever need to relax in (not your bed or sofa) and set a timer.

If your worries come up outside of this time, write them down to think about later or the next day.

While you are worrying, if you come up with any actions you need to do related to your worries, write those down to deal with later. When the timer ends, make sure to move on to your planned next activity.

2. keep a worry Journal

Writing your worries down is another way to manage anxiety and overthinking. This slows down our racing thoughts and can make worries seem more manageable. Some journalling prompts you could use include:

• List every worry you have until you can’t think of anymore

• List your worries and score them 1-10 on how likely they are to happen

• What is the evidence my worry won’t come through?

• If my worry does happen, how will I deal with it?

• If my worry does come true, how much will it matter in one week? What about in one month or one year?

3. Leaves on a stream meditation

Meditation and mindfulness are really helpful ways to manage anxiety. The ‘leaves on a stream’ meditation is particularly helpful for people who experience excessive worrying.

This technique comes from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and works by creating distance between us and our thoughts and feelings, to reduce the power they have over us.

To try this technique:

• Find a quiet, comfortable place and sit or lie down. Set a timer, try 10 minutes to start with.

• Close your eyes and begin to take slow, deep breaths.

• Imagine that you are beside a stream. Use all your sense to imagine how it looks, sounds, smells as you lay beside the stream.

• As thoughts or worries come into your head, just acknowledge them without judgement. For example, ‘I am thinking about the exam tomorrow’.

• After observing your thought, return your attention to the stream. Imagine writing your worry on a leaf, putting the leaf in the water and watch the leaf as it travels down the stream.

• Do this until your timer goes off, just noticing your thoughts as they come up and setting them off down the stream. There is nothing else you need to do.

Practiced regularly, this exercise will become easier and the effects more powerful. You can watch a guided version of this meditation here.

4. Pleasant rumination

When we are anxious, we tend to think a lot about things that could go wrong for us. This kind of excessive worry or overthinking can be seen as a habit, and some people can adapt the habit to make it less distressing.

The next time you notice yourself unable to stop thinking about something, choose an enjoyable scenario and imagine it in detail. If there are a number of decisions to make in the scenario, even better.

Some common pleasant rumination scenarios include

• imagining how you would re-decorate a room

• choosing what players, past or present, would be on your dream sports team and what positions they would play in

• choosing what beauty treatments you would get done at a spa day, moving from head to toes

• planning an itinerary for your dream holiday destination

I hope you have found these strategies helpful. Counselling can help you to find the right way for you to manage anxiety symptoms, and also to understand and resolve the root causes of your anxiety.

If you would like to talk to someone about your anxiety and racing thoughts, please do reach out and arrange a free consultation call and we can discuss whether therapy might be helpful in managing your anxiety.