I’m an avid overthinker. In fact, I’m doing it right now!

It’s 5:44 in the morning and I’ve worried myself awake. And what am I overthinking about? My writing career.

Ain’t it funny that I’ve decided to write about it…

But guess what? This is exactly how you should deal with overthinking.

Recalibrating Your Thoughts

I’ve always been an overthinker, but it’s become more prominent in recent years thanks to my chosen career path. So I’ve had to learn how to distract myself and how to recalibrate when it gets too much.

Much of my overthinking is unimportant. Yesterday I worried about my room not being clean. And it still ain’t clean! This kind of thinking simply requires a distraction. A few minutes of good music was all I needed.

But when overthinking gets too much, when it gets to the point where your questioning yourself, it’s imperative to take control of the narrative. Or else it will get the better of you.

This is what I call recalibrating your thoughts.

For me, I was overthinking about whether writing is for me. This arose from the thought that my writing isn’t getting anywhere. Which arose from the thought that I’m not doing enough.

It’s important to lay your thoughts out like this so you can work on recalibrating.

To recalibrate, you must challenge the narrative by asking yourself if it’s really true:

So am I doing enough? Well, I could always be doing more with my writing. But I can say that I am doing enough because I could be doing nothing instead. The fact that I’ve got this blog up and running is something. And the fact that I’m writing this blog post is something more. So, yes, I am doing enough.

But what about my writing? Is it really getting anywhere? Well, it’s gotten further than where it has been. Not only have I learned more skills in writing, but I’ve also learned new skills in blogging, SEO, social media marketing and more. There’s still more to learn, of course. Even accomplished writers are still learning. Which means that my writing really is getting somewhere.

In saying that, is writing really for me? Well, considering that I’m currently writing at this moment shows me that I do enjoy writing. I’ve also received plenty of praise on past work and some successes. And the fact that I built this blog should mean something. So it’s safe to say that writing really is for me.

Now that I’ve recalibrated my thoughts, it’s important to harness it for the future. So when thoughts like this come back, I can replace them with the truth.

Because dealing with overthinking is simply owning the narrative and retaking control of it.

Once you’ve got the controls, there’s no telling what you’re capable of.