Overthinking is Simply a Habit, Story time..
A little boy was faced with a recurring dilemma as he was a child growing up. Whenever his mom went to Walmart, she invited him to come along, knowing he enjoyed exploring the toy aisle picking out the family cereal and maybe buying a pack of baseball cards with his allowance.
This little boy loves shopping at Walmart.
But not as much as playing with his friends in the neighborhood. He wanted to go to Walmart, but he didn't want to miss the opportunity to play with a friend.
His greatest fear was that he would return home from a fun shopping trip to learn a friend had called with an invitation while he had been out.
Every time his mom invited him to come with her, he would deliberate for far too long. He was forced to choose:
Should I go to the store or shall I stay home in case a friend became available to play?
His mom would wait with growing impatience while he deliberated.
He was persistently torn between the two options.
This little boy has analysis paralysis, the state in which we overthink things to such a degree that we cannot decide.
We have all been there, and not just when we were kids. Let's be honest; we grown-ups have way more experience overthinking than the typical seven-year-old little boy.
While it's easy to see this little boy has analysis paralysis, it isn't always easy to recognize it in our lives. We lack the perspective to see our behavior; we are too close, too caught up in it, to realize that when our thought patterns become problematic or keep us stuck.
We may see our behavior as entirely rational and fail to recognize that the decision-making style we rely on and assume is more or less serving us well keeps us stuck and overthinking and not moving forward in our life.
To change our overthinking ways, we must notice how we are overthinking.
We need to watch what we are doing, observe our behavior objectively, and increase our awareness when we have a feeling that we don't want to be in alignment with.
For example, feeling stuck, burdened, overwhelmed, ambivalent, torn between 2 options, and feeling as though something is driving the decision-making outside of you.
This is why a qualified, professional life coach can relieve this analysis paralysis; I myself see and find the state of overthinking in others rather obvious. I sincerely enjoy working with individuals to create an easy way to navigate and overcome this habit.