What is holding adults with ADHD back from the life that they want to live. Being an over thinker can result in someone stands still and who self sabotages the good things in life. In other words, adults with ADHD over analyze and deconstruct things so the happiness that comes from enjoying something slowly disappears. If you find yourself over thinking, you should try to change the channel in your mind. Sounds easy right? The warning here is that while the solution may sound simple, putting it into action takes practice. But like a lot of things in life, the more you do this, the better you will get at it, the next time and the next time after that. Here are some ways you can stop over thinking
Avoid people, places and things that can lead to over thinking- You can try to do this based on your history. You can probably determine which situations that keep you awake at night or you can do this based on how something made you feel prior to participating. This can take some self awareness.
Talk To Yourself – Do not talk to yourself in the way you have been talking to yourself; your level up self talk. When you have something on your mind, that you just can’t get rid of, try to stay aware of your thought process. You may be taken back to find that your over thinking is occurs with your negative thoughts, which means you are focusing on the wrongs things that assist you in overcoming the situation. When you find yourself over thinking, especially when it is negative, think instead, this is not helping, and replace it with a positive affirmation, try to do it this each time
Distract Yourself – Get out and do something that gets your mind off of the thing that you cannot stop thinking about. It is possible to do this; you just have to be willing to give it a try. The best way I have tried to distract myself is going for a walk, but also spending time with family or friends, going for a drive, or just sitting still and just taken a few deep breathes can work as well. Find your favorite distraction, and just do it.
Set time To Think & Document Your Thoughts – If you are going to over think, set a time to over think for a short period of time to over think. Set a timer, get yourself a pen and paper and only for 15 minutes write down everything that is on your mind. Do not stop to fix the grammar because you are the only one who is going to read it. You are just letting yourself get it all out. When the 15 minutes are up, rip up the paper and throw it away and then move onto something fun.
Realize That Being Perfect Isn’t Everything – Striving to be perfect is a recipe for disaster, the quicker you give up those perfectionist tendencies the sooner you will move past the thing that is occupying your mind. Perfectionism is extremely overrated.
Work through Your Fear – The most important thing for over thinkers to stop doing is to stop projecting the worst of what could happen. Ask yourself what is the worst possible outcome, and then try to be ok with that outcome and come up with a suitable response. This is an amazingly freeing step, like an aha moment. If the worst case scenario isn’t that bad, and you know how you will deal with it if it came down to it, the anxiety about projecting the worst will suddenly disappear.
Look At The Big Picture – This will take a little practice but when you ask yourself “will this matter in a month/6 months/1 year, and if your answer is no, then what is the point of thinking about it. On the other hand , if the answer is yes, “how will this experience change you?” what will you learn from it?” Or how will you approach this if it came up again”?