Do you find yourself overthinking either in sport or in day to day life. Have you ever thought about the types of overthinking you may experience and which one(s) show up most for you?
Many of us are ‘thinkers’ with the brain always exploring things. The difference with overthinking is that:
The thoughts can feel uncontrollable
The thoughts are in excess
Future thinking
Past thinking
This can be dwelling on a mistake you made in the past, or continuously replaying a time you were hurt over and over again in your mind.
One focus of our discussions in sport is being able to stay in the present moment, so noticing when you are overthinking in the future and in the past can be the first step in helping you return to the here and now.
Big picture thinking
Are you someone that gets caught up in some of life's bigger questions.
In sport you may get stuck in a lot of thoughts around club choices, saying yes or no to opportunities that you are offered or education decisions. This can feel big and overwhelming so can take up a lot of your focus.
Assumptions
For some individuals the overthinking is more linked to other people. Are you constantly trying to predict what others are thinking about you.
An example of this would be being at a trial for your particular sport and, because you're not performing well, you end up obsessively thinking "Does everyone think I'm not good enough to be here? I wonder if everyone thinks I'm rubbish? I bet the coaches will think I'm useless."
Indecisive
This is when we get stuck on relatively simple day to day decisions. E.g. what to eat or what to wear.
When you're prone to overthinking in this way, having to make a choice sends your brain into overdrive, as you end up thinking about all of the possible - yet often extremely unlikely - consequences.
Catastrophising
Life is filled with day to day small problems. The challenge for some of us is that when a small problem occurs, your mind then goes into overdrive thinking of all the (usually non-existent) catastrophes that will happen as a result.
Hopeless Thoughts
This is when your brain goes into overdrive thinking hopeless thoughts - usually either about the future, or about your circumstances.
For example, thinking uncontrollably and in excess "I'll never get better ... I'll never get better ... I'll never get better ..." when you are struggling to learn a certain skill.
Worthless Thoughts
This is when your brain goes into overdrive thinking worthless thoughts about yourself.
For example, "I'm useless ... I'm useless ... I'm USELESS!"
General Chatter
This is when your brain is constantly going and going and going and you can't make it stop - even about very trivial or mundane matters.
Helpfulness of all of these types of thinking:
Now, sometimes thinking about the world in some of the ways we have mentioned above can be helpful (although some aren't at all).
However, when that thinking becomes "uncontrollable" and "in excess" as we mentioned at the start (i.e. when it turns into overthinking), then it's no longer productive and helpful.
When this happens it can result in you feeling, confused, overwhelmed, anxious panicked and/or depressed.
Start with noticing - what overthinking types show up the most for you?
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