How can I stop overanalyzing and channel my mental energy better?

[Anonymous]

So, damn… already in analysis trying to create an icebreaker. I’m a 20 year old male. I’ve revised this like fifty times. 😭

I’m very analytical and this causes a large investment of mental energy. It’s either introspection or rumination — either way, I still learn.

What had allowed this realization was when I got into a “social game” with women. At least that’s how I perceived it. My focus was on not being a pawn, to realize I was a pawn simply by participating in the game (allocating attention.) I was cognitively and emotionally led, or blind so to speak. However, I remained focused on her behavior and not what I had wanted. “What does this mean?” The why has caused the spiral because it’s a question that can’t be solved without their narrative as well.

So how do I learn to channel my mental energy and emotions into beneficial behaviors instead of it being led into ambiguity? Is it just a: “it comes with time” thing?

[Telekinetic-Potato]

The answer is building systems you can trust. It's easier said than done and the best way I know how to explain it is, imagine all the energy you're putting into this one thing.

How many aspects of it did you spend hours or days or even months trying to make sense of because in reality you're mulling over unknown variables?

The challenge is, you're building a house and you know what it should look like when it's done right but you don't really know how to lay a foundation and you can't learn how to do it properly until you've built the whole house. You're putting up the wood frame but you don't know anything about structure but you kinda know where you think the support beams should go so you say you'll come back to this area of the house.

And before you know it, you've got this sloppy foundation and there's wood framing missing from awkward places, you got a beautifully finished kitchen somewhere, you forgot to put in the basement. And there's a desheveled roof covering parts of the house.

You did everything you could, but now you're hear and everything's a mess but it's still hard to know exactly what you need to do to make the house look the way you wanted it to.

This is where building the skill of structured thinking becomes important to someone who thinks like you. You're in a way better spot than maybe you realize. Because if you can slow down your thoughts. And take a walk through the house and audit it.

Ohh, the foundation is funny over here, maybe I didn't pack the dirt in correctly, you know what, I remember I poured the concrete a little differently here. and now it's affecting how the wood framing fits together.

And then you're like ohhh, that's why when I put this door in this frame, it was the only one that was a problem for me.

When you work your problems from foundation to roof in a way that is slow, honest and pioleted by your curiosity, that's when you start getting where you want to go.

I've seen a lot of people who get stuck because theyre standing in the fucked up house and their minds go "this door looks wrong, I feel uneven when I walk around, I don't know how to do this, I'll never figure out that. And they'll hyoerfixate on a relatively small detail which can be fine, but will kill you if you don't understand the full picture of how all the pieces before lead up to the issue you're currently looking at.

It's like tracing a tangled wire back to its other end. If you have a ball of tangled wires and just toss it around it gets worse, but if you pick out one wire at a time, trace it back to the other end of the knot and work on it a little at a time, it usually only gets easier.

Find a way to organize your thoughts and structure your approach

[SueShe]

In order to stop overthinking, you can start with yoga exercises to free your mind from thinking while you are trying to relax. Another good way is meditation. That frees your mind from thoughts.

You will probably have to take lessons in either yoga or meditation but those lessons are certainly going to help you with your mental stress and energy.

While overthinking may be useful in very difficult and challenging situations where your health and life are possibly at risk, it is a total waste of energy in situations like yours. Weighing the pros and cons of a situation is good but it must not start to rule your life.

[rachel776]

https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ZtbmgziJAA

. .

[Nikki1989]

Overthinking happens when your mind has too much freedom and no direction. Replace analysis with curiosity and go from there.

[Jeff51]

Your young. It comes with time.