The why of overthinking and overanalyzing yourself is complex, and is often rooted in an anxiety of some kind. To more fully discover what that is for you personally, you could work with a therapist or counselor. In the meantime, consider the following exercise called “Digging for Gold” by Todd Pressman, PhD, which encourages an exploration of what our ‘core’ fear is that can contribute to behaviors in our life. It’s explained here in this Psychology Today article. 

I hope it’s helpful for you! -Zoe

Definitely that core fear thing, big deal esp. if you have ptsd of some sort.  Which will REALLY start a loop.

I do those loops – sometimes it’s helpful to break it by doing something that completely engages your brain in something else.  Like an immersive project, a TV show, or something that will not allow you to think about other things. Also, for some reason it helps me to switch to a purely visual task, like photography or drawing, to get out of the mental verbal mode.  

Might also be helpful to troubleshoot it with a friend, but don’t be THAT friend that goes on and on and on and …. Just ten minutes to a solution, don’t make your friend listen to your loop more than once.  

Or simply writing down the final what you will say or do (along with options)  to get it out of your head, then tell yourself it’s solved, refuse to entertain it, and switch to an immersive task.  When it comes to mind, refuse to entertain it, remind your head you’ve already solved it, and you are doing something else now. 

Or put it out of your head and remind your head that you will deal with it at 3pm tomorrow when you meet with this person, and that it’s as solved as it can be for now, on paper.

Good luck

Also, one note  – if the thing that’s bothering you is objectively minor, but you’re feeling frantic or urgent to defend yourself or correct something in a way that’s out of proportion, there could be bigger underlying issues (core fear).  In that case, sometimes it’s best to step back and do nothing until you’re sure you’re thinking rationally about how to respond, so as not to make matters worse.  (Wait a day before hitting SEND.  haha )

(Please – Amen Clinic tech team – it’s not helpful to not be able to edit your post!)

I just noticed this is the ask a coach forum.  Oops should I not have answered?  Sorry Coach Zoe, didn’t mean to butt in.  I’ll skip these quesitons in the future

aagh it won’t let me delete my posts – sorry again.

Glad you didn’t delete your post. I think you have some very good ideas. Thanks for sharing!