Anxiety, the word we all know. In the present world, wherever you go, you hear this word; people seem to say it very casually, I am having anxiety, Yesterday I had too much anxiety, What does this mean? Is it now a part of our life, like a common cold, or what? There was a time when people used to feel awkward while talking about stress because at that time it might be called a ghost or a weak person.
But the best part is that we are in a generation where we can talk openly about this and even share with our close ones, and they will help you cope with this without judging you or making any derogatory comments. This is a very big step we have taken as humans, where we have started talking about these things openly; these are no longer taboo.
Since we have started this topic, it is quite necessary that we go into the details of everything: its causes, symptoms, how it affects our daily life, and finally how to cope with this.
What is anxiety? How is it related to Overthinking?
Anxiety is an emotional state that is associated with being uneasy or distressed, and it can vary from mild to severe. A person can be said to be suffering from anxiety he/ she is in a continuous state of worry or fear that does not go away but becomes prominent over time. Its reason is still a topic of research; we are yet to reach a point where we can say with confidence that these are the reasons that cause anxiety, but according to various studies, it is suggested that the possible reasons for anxiety can be irregularities in the brain chemicals or malfunctioning of the heart and lungs, which causes irregularities in the blood pressure.
Another possible reason can be some mental disease, substance abuse, or alcoholism. It is very much associated with overthinking as the first and most common symptoms of anxiety is the overthinking, and the best part of anxiety and overthinking is that they are vice versa of each others, have ever found yourself trapped in a cycle of racing thoughts, replaying past conversation or worrying about the future, overthinking can make even a simple decision overwhelming and can fuel the feelings of anxiety stress and self doubt. Usually, other than anxiety, we overthink for many reasons, like fear of failure, need for control, or perfectionism.
These are a few symptoms of overthinking :
- Overanalyzing every possible outcome of the situation: An overthinker will always overanalyze the situation, whether everything is simple or not; he will make it complex or take it to the extreme.
- Replaying past conversation and worrying about what you said: It is a common habit of over thinker to be either in past or in future but not in the present, they will sit and keep thinking about their past conversation with someone and this is not like a sweet memory recall, it is most like a guilt trip that I should not have say this, I wearing this what they would be thinking about me.
- Indecisive: Since we already know overthinkers are never in the present, always overanalyze the situation, always have a second thought on their decision, then how can someone with this mindset be so firm and clear with their decision? Indecisiveness is also a common symptom found in overthinkers.
Now we will see a few more possible causes of Anxiety.
- Negative life events: Negative life events can cause a significant amount of anxiety in a person because such events leave a mark on us which is difficult to remove until and unless the person heals properly, since they snatch our sense of security and push us into the darkness of continuous fear and suffering.
- Societal pressure: Societal pressure is never direct but indirectly it plays a very crucial role into shaping someone’s state of mind his day-day thoughts, society has made one of it’s best weapon which no one in this universe can make and it is comparison, when have to compare then definitely you will have this feeling to succeed, this pseud ambition puts a lot of unnecessary burden on us which is like a stick in the wheel, a person free from this burden can do wonders in his life but, this burden throws then into stress and anxiety.
- Future Uncertainty: Future uncertainty is something which keeps echoing in almost everybody’s mind, and it is of no use, because we can not change anything which is not in the control of our senses future is something which is yet to manifest in physical form, and what will be manifested completely depends on your present actions and choices.
- But instead of working on the present, we keep wondering about the future and eventually end up thinking that the future is uncertain; obviously, it is if it is not meticulously manifested through your present actions. This feeling of uncertainty is more than enough to put a normal person into anxiety; it is the same as driving your vehicle in a dark forest where no road is visible, and this causes anxiety. To read more about anxiety, you can read : https://www.nimh.nih.gov
How does anxiety/overthinking affect our day-to-day life?
- Hormonal Imbalance: One of the main problem causing due to anxiety is that in state of anxiety our body and mind is stressed and hence it releases hormones like adrenaline and cortisol which can causes sever health risk in long run one of them is weight gain, along with that we start aging very quickly if the cortisol is rising, and it also reduces the amount of testosterone in our body.
- Physical Disease: Anxiety can cause chronic stress and many physical diseases related to it; a few of them are continuous ache,back pain, heart congestion, poor digestion, and many more.
- Immune system; A prolonged anxiety can weaken the hormones and causes many infections, it may be noticed a person who is always worried is vulnerable to many disease, he will catch cold in a slight of weather change, he will be always having the migraine.
- Poor relationship with friends and family: A person who is always stressed or anxious can never be in his best possible state where he/she can connect with others in such a way that both of them get benefited from the union. The benefits may come in any form, maybe good emotional support, a good listener, or anything.
- Loss of Libido: Libido is something which has been sought out by many philosophers; it is something which gives different types of pleasure, as human pleasure is something we all look towards, but just imagine you almost lose your libido; then what would life be? It is the same as if you have almost closed one door of pleasure.
Steps to deal with anxiety and break the Overthinking cycle.
- Take a deep breath: The first and the easiest thing one can do to deal with overthink and stress is to focus on breath, or just taking a deep breath with full attention, the moment you feel stress or anxiety the best way to get out of that cycle is to take a deep breath, taking a deep breath means you are breathing from your abdomen not half breathing which usually most of the people do. This simple step will give you instant relief because the breath is simply magic happening to us, and we do not even give much attention to it.
- Appreciate yourself: We have seen that in most of the cases, overthinking, stress, and anxiety all show up because of low self-esteem or self-criticism. When we start thinking that we are not enough for this or that, then stress arises because such thoughts create a fear within us, a fear of an insecure future, a vulnerable life, and many negative things.
- And it is quite obvious that a person with negative emotions can never feel good; hence, to cope with this, it is very important that we keep ourselves appreciating or praising from time to time; it may be in many ways, either in thoughts, or just taking yourself for a treat, maybe buying yourself your favorite shoes. Such activities will help a lot to deal with anxiety.
- Distract yourself: When the loop of overthinking becomes unbearable, then it is best to distract yourself, and it can be done in many ways: listening to a song, going for a walk, reading a book, watching a movie, or just talking to your dear ones. Above all, my personal favorite is exercising or hitting the gym; this will relieve you instantly, but in case of severe overthinking, stress, or anxiety, it should be avoided because it can cause harm. In such a case, just doing basic movements will help- maybe simply dancing to your favorite song, but avoid lifting heavy weights.
- Write Journal: Writing down your feelings helps a lot to cope with overthinking and anxiety, because it is like you are sharing your feelings with someone who will not judge or spread. This sense of safety helps a lot to relax the mind and even provide mental clarity.
- Meditation: This is the best among all because just 10 minutes of meditation every day is more than enough to fuel your entire day with positivity and mindfulness, and a positive mind does not stress or overthink; it just acts, and it converts all plans into action.
- Ask for help: Even after doing all these, if you do not find it useful, then it is time to seek outside help, and there is no shame in sharing about it openly because it is not taboo; it is awareness that needs to be discussed openly without any judgment.
Conclusion;
And finally, I would like to say that overthinking and anxiety are not very big things; they can be eliminated from your life by following a few basic steps. Also, they are not too small to be ignored; hence, identify and work on them because a clear mind has vision, not a mind that is confused or overwhelmed.
For Breathing exercises, you can read: https://zenalgorithms.com/pranayama-for-modern-stress-breath-algorithms/