[Miswimmy1]

I feel like it gets a negative connotation. It is frustrating, because I feel like overthinking is a way to deal with the idea of uncertainty, which comes with a lack of trust. but why is it over thinking a bad thing? When u have nothing else to base your thoughts off of, of course you are going to speculate and assume.

[~EnlightenMe~]

I do the same thing, and I think it helps me a lot sometimes, and not so much others. If you are afraid of something, though, and you try to come up with the various permutations of what might happen, your focus will be on the negative outcomes because those are the ones for which you would want to prepare. I think this is a negative feature of rumination, as it could dig you deeper into a hole. That being said, some of my greatest insights, (if not all), came from ruminating about them. My 2 cents,

Just look at your last several posts on the I need to tell you something, T thread and you should be able to see evidence of how your constant over-thinking and hyperfocus on all things T keeps you in a place on negativity and seems to perpetuate crises where there really probably don't need to be any.

I know your T being away for surgery has been hard on you, but your "thinking" starting even before your last appointment with her was that you were going to go into crisis, you were going to have a hard time, etc. You predicted and set yourself up for being pretty miserable for the last couple of weeks BECAUSE you started overthinking this whole scenario into a crisis for you before it had to even become one. You talked yourself into what your are feeling right now through your obsessive thinking about your T, not consciously obviously, but that's where you've ended up nevertheless.

I know, none of us like to hear that we've talked ourselves into how miserable we are feeling, but the fact is, generally that is what we do to ourselves. I am just as guilty as the next person. That negative thinking comes so often from ruminating and getting all those negative scenarios rolling in our minds that take on a life of their own. We latch onto those negative thoughts like a bulldog and refuse to let them go.

You said you think overthinking gives you a way to "deal with the idea of uncertainty, which comes with a lack of trust," but your overthinking hasn't helped you. Your write things that show you are incredibly uncertain and even more untrusting now than you were a couple of weeks ago, mainly because you've done nothing but think about all the bad things you can about your T as possible over the last few weeks.

Try to give your brain a rest. You stopped meds, but weren't they supposed to be helping you with your obsessive thinking? (Please pardon me if I have you confused with someone else.) You do seem to be having a harder time since you went off meds, and perhaps these last few weeks would have been at least a bit more manageable had your meds been on board to slow and calm that obsessive thinking down.

I have always been an overthinker... Not just about t stuff but my whole life. My momused to tell me "you think too much! Turn your brain off!" as though it was something i could just DO.
Its definitely hard to control our thoughts, but it can be done. One thing i have learned is that i dont have to dwell on every thought that falls into my head. I can throw some thoughts out or move onto something else. Its tough for me but its do-able.
Theres definitely a balance needed. But i dont think overthinking is necessarily bad.

[Bill3]

When u have nothing else to base your thoughts off of, of course you are going to speculate and assume.

I suspect that overthinking often involves leaving the present moment in order to speculate or assume about the future.

Perhaps there would be less overthinking if one could stay in the present. For example: you mentioned speculation. Yes, you could speculate about how T will change after her return from surgery. That sounds like a path to overthinking.

Or, you could instead say that right now your task is to get through the current moment, and you will worry about whether or not T has changed when you see her again.

Over thinking is possibly constructive and destructive.
I do it all the time.
It really is about thinking about the future at the expense of the present.
since you're going to do that anyway, keep track of all your insights during those periods.
ask yourself if the insights that you gained are worth the time you spent gaining them. then ask yourself if your time could have been better spent acting on previous insights.
then decide what serves you more.
whatever you decide be happy with it.

the world needs thinkers
the world needs doers

the 1 to do both achieves many things

[elliemay]

Originally Posted by nothingtolivefor

It really is about thinking about the future at the expense of the present.

the world needs thinkers
the world needs doers

the 1 to do both achieves many things

So true, so true.

[autotelica]

I know what I say may be controversial. But I'm a tough cookie and can handle disagreement.

Thinking isn't the problem. It's feeling.

I think a LOT, which helps me figure out how to solve problems at work (I'm a scientist) and come up with new things to create (I am an artist). Yes, one can "over-analyze"--where you are just spinning your wheels on nitpickery. But the crime in this is just wasting time and energy. It's not really dangerous.

What's dangerous are the feelings that are generated with certain thoughts. Entertaining "what if" scenarios is fine as long as you are detached emotionally and realize you are just "entertaining". When feelings start getting involved, then the wall of objectivity is no longer there and your thinking transforms into believing. Since beliefs are based on "gut instincts" and I have found that my own "gut" is not trustworthy, I tend not to put a lot of stock in beliefs, both mine and other people's.

I think some people think that thinking a lot = intelligence. As someone who has disorganized, nonsensical thoughts, I can attest that this simply is NOT true. There is such thing as inefficient, wasteful, crazy-making thinking. But I don't think constructive thinking is ever bad. If your thoughts lead you to useful discoveries, then that is constructive. If your thoughts make your emotions spiral out of control? Destructive!

Originally Posted by autotelica

What's dangerous are the feelings that are generated with certain thoughts. Entertaining "what if" scenarios is fine as long as you are detached emotionally and realize you are just "entertaining". When feelings start getting involved, then the wall of objectivity is no longer there and your thinking transforms into believing. Since beliefs are based on "gut instincts" and I have found that my own "gut" is not trustworthy, I tend not to put a lot of stock in beliefs, both mine and other people's.

I think some people think that thinking a lot = intelligence. As someone who has disorganized, nonsensical thoughts, I can attest that this simply is NOT true. There is such thing as inefficient, wasteful, crazy-making thinking. But I don't think constructive thinking is ever bad. If your thoughts lead you to useful discoveries, then that is constructive. If your thoughts make your emotions spiral out of control? Destructive!

Exactly true.

[Sannah]

Originally Posted by Miswimmy1

I feel like overthinking is a way to deal with the idea of uncertainty

Does it work or make you feel better?

For me it didn't. It just wasted time and made me all anxious. What I did was try to calm myself down by telling myself that everything will work out, I can handle the situation, and I reminded myself of all the times in the past where my anticipation was much worse than what actually occurred.

[BlessedRhiannon]

There's thinking about things, and then there's "over" thinking about things. The problem with over thinking is that often it results in getting thoughts stuck in almost a feedback loop where emotions just start building on top of each other until they become unmanageable.

I've found that unhealthy over thinking usually occurs when you stop fact checking, and just start building larger and larger worst case scenarios in your mind, without stopping for a reality check.

Like autotelica, I think a lot at work, problem solving. But, even then, there comes a point where it's time to step away and get a fresh perspective if you start finding yourself stuck in a single thought pattern that isn't allowing you to progress forward.

I think that's the important thing to consider when you look at whether thinking about things is healthy or unhealthy. Are your thoughts allowing you to progress forward, or are you just getting stuck in a loop where your emotions just keep building up? I know it's hard to stop the unhealthy over thinking. Sometimes, I have to verbally tell myself "Stop! You're getting stuck." When I hear it out loud, it lets me break that cycle, and then I can ask myself - what do I have control over? what do I know is true? what do I need to fact check with someone else? am I moving forward by thinking about this, or am I just getting stuck? Asking those questions usually lets me determine whether I'm problem solving or just getting stuck in self-defeating thoughts.

So, to me, it sounds like your over thinking is the feedback loop type...the more you think about things, the more your emotions build, which is probably rather unhealthy.

You state that "When u have nothing else to base your thoughts off of, of course you are going to speculate and assume." That's when you should fact check, rather than continuing to speculate. You stop, find out what is true, and try to reframe your thoughts. If you can't fact check right away, then maybe you need to tell yourself "stop...I don't have the answers right now. I need to find out what is true, which means I have to wait."

[sconnie892]

Originally Posted by Miswimmy1

I feel like it gets a negative connotation. It is frustrating, because I feel like overthinking is a way to deal with the idea of uncertainty, which comes with a lack of trust. but why is it over thinking a bad thing? When u have nothing else to base your thoughts off of, of course you are going to speculate and assume.

I think you might have started to answer your own question. You have nothing to base your thoughts on so you speculate and assume. The "what if" game can lead to a quick downward spiral.

I am facing a medical test and when I learned what it was for, I immediately started to speculate on everything that could go wrong, which lead me to think about things like losing my job, losing my house, dealing with huge medical bills, etc. I was stuck in this downward spiral until my pastor told me to stop and just think about the next step. I know what the next step is - having the test done. He told me I am not allowed to borrow worry by speculating on what might happen if the test results aren't good. I just focus on the next step. For the last two weeks, that has meant taking it hour by hour sometimes.

Someone else mentioned being "present." I like to think about it as "taking care of the task at hand." So if it's time for lunch, I think about and eat lunch. There's nothing wrong with planning, but planning can only be done successfully when it's based on facts and what is actually happening.