The surprising reason you overthink
Lately, I’ve been having a lot of neck tension and congestion.
At first, I contributed it to allergies and sinus issues. And then I added in tension caused by spending a lot of time on my phone and computer.
While both of these things were true, one day my tension headache became so painful that I was forced to stop working, and it made me pause long enough to ask myself, "What else might be going on?".
When it comes to our physical sensations and forms of dis-ease in our body, the culprit is often not just physical.
Our body works from the inside out, and once we begin experiencing something on the physical level, it means it’s been present on the more subtle energetic and emotional levels for some time, and has now become acute enough to manifest in physical form.
As I spent time working to relieve my physical symptoms , I considered what on the energetic or emotional levels might be contributing to my neck tension and congestion.
And then it came to me: overthinking!
I can't tell you how many times lately I've thought or said out loud that I'm "processing something".
I don’t think I need to tell you that the world is giving us all a lot to process right now. Every. Single. Day. And I’m sure you, like me, have things in your own life going on that you’re processing as well.
The act of mental processing takes a lot of physical work. On an average day your brain, as an organ, consumes 20% of your energy.
Imagine how much more it might take when there is information you’re trying to integrate, a problem you’re trying to solve or a thought you’re ruminating on!
On an emotional level, the feelings that usually go with overthinking are ones that stem from the survival brain: fear, worry, anxiety, concern, judgement, criticism, lack.
When we’re feeling, balanced, calm, confident and in alignment, our energy is fairly evenly distributed through all the parts of our body from head to toe.
When we’re overthinking that energy becomes unevenly distributed with the bulk of it being stuck around our survival brain at the base of our skull, where the head and neck meet. And viola: neck tension.
Allowing ourselves to process and integrate information is vital for our physical and emotional well-being.
Getting stuck in the act of processing is when overthinking happens.
It’s easy to feel frustrated at yourself for overthinking and judging yourself for it, but that will only send you deeper down the spiral of processing.
Overthinking has a purpose. And once you figure out the purpose that it’s serving and how it’s currently benefiting you, you can more effortlessly work your way out of it.
Usually before we take an action we want to consider our options so that we see ourselves as choosing wisely. And while we might want things to be different, we often also don’t like change. Being stuck in the thinking process allows our brain an excuse to not take action, which is a sneaky way our brain is trying to keep us safe and keep things the way they are.
Here is a question to ask when you’re stuck in overthinking:
How is my overthinking trying to protect me? What is it allowing me to avoid right now?
Often our overthinking can be a way to keep us safe so that we don’t take an action that might result in us being judged or making a “mistake”. Putting ourselves out there can feel scary. It’s a vulnerable process.
What if you reframed and reminded yourself that you can’t get it wrong? That you don’t need to be perfect. That you’re always good enough.
From that mindset, what actions would you give yourself permission to take?
