Exhausted from the overthinking?

Overthinking is so exhausting... 

It’s something I struggled with so much that it drove me to severe anxiety and PTSD. At times I couldn’t sleep for hours. It was only because of not having any more energy left, that I would doze off.

This habit of overthinking is also something that often comes up in my conversations with highly sensitive people, INFJs, and empaths. Some people tell me that they can never fully rest and that their brains seem to work during the night, not letting them go deeper into relaxation.

It’s absolutely painful. And unhealthy.

The way I’ve observed it, overthinking usually comes up as a response to a threat and serves as a way to avoid feeling.

It may seem counterintuitive that those sensitive ones have trouble being with their emotions.

But it’s true.

Lately, I made a video about this mechanism. But in this article, I want to go a bit deeper into the aspect of thoughts.

You see, our culture promotes reason, and there are signs of brain superiority everywhere you look around:

Science over intuition and creativity.

Authority’s opinion over personal experience.

Tangible over the intangible.

Thoughts, in times of stress, give us a false assurance that they’re solving a problem. But the truth is that they created it in the first place.

Just go back to any recent stress, to remember. What really triggered your overthinking? Was it something objectively threatening or was that an idea of a threat?

Most of our emotional activations happen in response to a thought.

Our beautiful messy minds give us problems that then they work on overtime to solve.  

These inner dialogues might urge you to make out a bulletproof plan against your mean colleague at work... 

...To read into every word your partner said, splitting every tone and every word into atoms... 

....Or to create a whole new conversation with someone that you will never have a chance to speak again, saying (thinking) everything that you wish you had said before.

When you're activated, there's a mechanism that shortcuts from feelings going straight into thoughts to protect you from overwhelm and vulnerability. (That's why many people believe that emotions happen in their heads).

Many highly sensitive people and INFJs remembered that there was no one to protect them. They can’t just let go of strategising. It would feel too overwhelming to simply allow what is.

So the thinking in response to everything continues, making sure to protect you from anything “bad”.

But here’s the crux. You can’t regulate your emotions using the head. 

It’s impossible.

Sometimes, by using our minds, we may convince ourselves that it’s ok, and we calm down. But it’s only until the next thought comes up, that it all starts again.

To process events, emotions, activations and life, we need the body.

Finding out ways to reintegrate my midbody system allowed me to get in touch with my intuition and wisdom far greater than my ideas. And best of all, I regained a whole lot of energy that was wasted on the brain’s labour 24/7. 

I will never shut up about the benefits of this, because it's the key to sovereignty, authenticity, and a healthier, playful life with purpose.

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