Thanks to being human, we’re faced with challenges daily. Rent, school fees, taxes, insurance, work challenges, relationship issues, and parenting. The list goes on and on.
Due to our peculiarity as human beings, we all take these challenges and pressures of life differently.
While some are composed when under pressure, others struggle with handling the pressures of life and are quick to lose their cool with the least amount of pressure.
Some tend to blow things out of proportion by overthinking and switching to melancholy as a means to solve their problems and help them scale through these hard times. Unfortunately, this isn’t the best.
20 Things To Say To Someone who overthinks
Friends, lovers, neighbors, colleagues, classmates, employers, and employees. We all have people who overthink in our lives.
Overthinking can be extremely hazardous to their health and we might be concerned with what’s going on in their lives.
Here are 20 things to tell someone who overthinks. These things might not always be things to say, they also include things you can do to help out someone who is a worrywart.
You might be the one person who needs these prescriptions too, so read through.
“You’re doing very well”
There’s an invisible postcard hanging around the neck of everyone which says, “A compliment will go a long way for me”. When a person lacks validation and compliments from the people they love and respect, they tend to overthink.
They begin asking themselves questions like. “Am I doing well enough?”, “are my loved ones pleased with me?”, “Have I been a good friend, lover, and spouse?”.
It is important that we take the time to compliment our loved ones who fall prey to overthinking. Tell them that everyone is flawed and as such, no one can lay claim to perfection. That way, they feel loved and less insecure.
“Hey! Try Gratitude”
It’s easy for people to get caught up with all the negativities happening around them and they lose sight of the beautiful things and people they’re surrounded by.
When a loved one is overthinking, tell them to grab a journal and write down one thing that they’re grateful for every day.
That way, they’ll dwell less on the things that are not happening right and focus on the things that are amazing in their lives.
“Don’t worry! It’ll be fine”
It often starts with worrying over little things that we cannot control. Then it becomes full-blown overthinking. If you’re a Christian, you can encourage your loved one from the places where the bible admonishes that they have faith and not fear even in difficult circumstances.
So here, “Don’t worry, friend, it’ll be fine!”
“Meditation is key”
With the hustle and bustle of social media and the speed with which the activities in our daily lives hit us, it can be difficult to meditate and practice mindfulness.
Meditation is simply achieving emotional calmness, and mental clarity using techniques such as mindfulness and guided focusing among others.
When you encourage your loved ones to meditate, it trains their mind to be at peace despite the speed of activities, and the chaos in the environment. This increases their mental ability and decreases the rate at which they overthink.
“It’s okay to fail”
Most people suck at handling failure. They believe that failure is an identity they bear once they fail in any endeavor of their life.
This shows that our lives on earth and those of our loved ones will be punctuated with failures, disappointments, sad and hurting events, however, when it seems we have failed, we can choose to smile through the challenges or take on a loser’s attitude.
When our loved ones are going through a phase where it seems they’ve failed and it seems they’re overthinking it, we should remind them that it’s okay to fail.
“Write the ideas down”
There will always be thoughts popping in and out of your mind all day. Some of these thoughts are good while some are distressing.
A good way to keep your thoughts in check so that you don’t overthink is to write them down.
When next you find yourself or your loved one slipping away and overthinking, stop quickly and write those thoughts down.
When this happens, you become more aware of your environment and you can keep your thoughts in control.
“Take a walk down memory lane”
When a person has lost his/her loved ones to the cold hands of death, is lonely, and feeling nostalgic, there is a tendency to overthink. Unfortunately, these thoughts occur with everyone.
A way to combat these thoughts and set yourself on the right footing again is to take a walk down memory lane.
Taking a walk down memory lane can be done in many ways. Looking through your photo album or gallery, calling the loved ones involved, and spending time with your pet can help mitigate any attempt to overthink.
When you find out that a loved one is feeling nostalgic and missing loved ones, encourage them to look back at the memories they.ve had. It gives the feeling that they’re right there with you.
“Exercise”
A person who overthinks is obviously not taking time to exercise. Exercise improves your mental and physical health tremendously. It reduces anxiety, depression, and improves self-esteem and cognitive function.
Much more than encouraging a person to exercise as a way to avoid overthinking, make an offer to exercise with them. Make it fun for them so they can see reasons to join along.
“Travel”
Meeting new people, learning a new language, subtle travel challenges, eating new food, and getting adapted to a new culture.
These are some perks of travel. You’ll definitely have zero time to overthink if you’ve got a travel buddy and these fun memories.
Travel is one way to avoid overthinking. So pack your items, put them in a backpack and go explore the world.
“Get Creative”
It takes mental energy to think. How much more overthinking and dwelling on the wrong things. When next you see a person who overthinks, tell them to get creative.
When you channel your mental powers into a creative course such as writing poems, writing songs, drawing, or learning calligraphy, you become filled with a sense of achievement and excitement that you’ve created something new.
When they spend their time basking in the fun, joy, and excitement that comes from creative practices, overthinking will be kicked out of the door.
“Get Started”
Overthinking manifests itself in various ways in many people. It reflects as “analysis paralysis” in a lot of people.
Analysis paralysis is a situation where a person keeps on analyzing, fine-tuning, planning, and organizing an idea instead of getting started.
They keep on worrying about everything that could go wrong. They overthink and rehearse the “what ifs’ ‘ over and over until they become paralyzed and unable to start out on their big dream.
Such a person needs your encouragement to start out. Don’t allow them to keep wallowing in the fear of everything that could go wrong.
“Put things into perspective”
When people experience negative occurrences around them, they tend to react differently to the negativity.
When overthinkers experience negative circumstances, they quickly blow things out of proportion and start walking down the mental path of everything that could go wrong.
They take one wrong thing that has happened to them and make it a part of their lives.
Because something bad has happened, they’re quick to believe that they’ll keep facing evil all their life. This messes with their confidence, resolve, and productivity.
A good way to mitigate this is by putting things into perspective, taking time to think, and not worrying about the challenge.
Tell the overthinking person to talk a walk with their favorite music on, or take a drive around town with a friend. This will clear out your mind.
“Make a Journal”
Sadly, journaling is becoming a lost art. People feel that it’s not worth the effort to sit down and write out how they feel, their pains, their hurts, their failures, anxieties, weaknesses, and all.
They keep on trying to make up for the pain they feel through other means like binging on social media, overeating, eating unhealthy foods. This becomes problematic in the long run.
Journaling is much deeper than writing ideas down. Writing the ideas down can be mechanical but journaling comes from the soul.
A person who overthinks, most times, is one who ignores journaling. Journaling is the key to expressing your emotions without fear of hurt.
Anyone who overthinks should definitely start journaling today.
“Eat healthily”
Our choice of foods has a tremendous effect on our mental health. When a person is careless about his choice of food, some of these foods can topple the hormonal balance of the body thereby causing negative changes. This can lead to depression, overthinking, anxiety, and all.
When next you’re tempted or your spouse, friend, or lover is tempted to snack on the doughnut and hamburger from the mall at midnight, ensure you eat something healthy instead.
“Give love”
It’s easy to fall for the illusion that money solves every problem there is. Because of this, many people spend their lives chasing after money, fame, titles, job opportunities, certificates, and all while they intentionally forget to connect with the people around them intentionally.
When these people get to the peak of their career, they become disillusioned because they find out that they’ve got the money but the right relationships with family, friends and loved ones are nonexistent.
This causes overthinking which can lead to depression and suicide in extreme cases.
This can be mitigated by being intentional about giving love and spending time with loved ones. That way, such people will have people who’re willing to stand by him/her.
“Spend time in nature”
A waterfall, a beach filled with sand, happy people, a smiling sun, and lots of water. These are all beautiful sceneries in nature.
Spending time in nature rejuvenates your mind. It refreshes your soul and gives you a heightened belief in a God who’s got you covered. It puts your mind at rest while you soak in all the wonders of nature.
“Give up”
Most times people overthink because they want to have everything under their control. A mom who’s always agitated by her son’s welfare, a businessman who’s always on the go attending endless board meetings, and a student who’s worried about results and test scores.
Most of the things people worry about are things they’ve got no control over. So why bother yourself when you’ve got no control.
The solution is to give your best shot at whatever you’ve got to do and then give up. Don’t worry or bother about things that should have been done better. Take a calm disposition and give up.
“Talk to someone”
Encourage that person who’s a worrywart to talk to someone. There’s a degree of freedom that comes when you pour out your thoughts to someone. It immediately puts you at ease mentally.
Tell such a person to reach out to a loved one and talk, vent, and express fully all they’re thinking about.
“Practice self-care”
So many people are wearing themselves out with work, chores, responsibilities, and duties that they barely have time to care for themselves.
Such people might be tempted to become self-conscious, anxious, and concerned about their physical looks. This can lead to overthinking.
When next a person overthinks, remind them to practice self-care.
“Take life one day at a time”
Trying to juggle everything together is a good way to lose it all. Unfortunately, this is what the media encourages people to do. This can become overwhelming and difficult for people as they break under the pressure of life.
Take one day at a time. Don’t allow the fast-paced world to cause you to lose your peace while you’re left to grapple with the heavy burdens you’ve amassed.
