Alsager person-centred counsellor, Hannah Bolton, offers her professional insight into overthinking and anxiety.

"Imagination is worse than reality," says Hannah. "When talking about anxiety someone said to me the fear around something happening can be far worse than the event itself. I sat and thought about that and saw there was some truth to it."

Do you find yourself thinking of those 'what if' scenarios, the thoughts where we think of the worst possible outcome or overthink interactions, we have with others fearing how we came across or what people may think of us?

"It's easy to find yourself in this vicious circle with these spiralling negative thoughts. The mind sadly will easily draw upon negatives rather than the positives.

"It's so frustrating when you are in this cycle and you mind find yourself thinking, why do I do this and how do I stop this from happening?"

The power lies within our overwhelming fears, anxiety, and lack of control. When we feel we don't have control over a situation this is where the anxiety lies. says Hannah.

"I call it the 'angel' vs the 'devil' inside your head. One voice is you saying to yourself that everything is and will be ok, the other is thinking of every what if scenario under the sun and running away with itself.

"We want the angel to be more powerful than the devil. In this instance different things will help everyone, but the thing I try to do is bring myself back to the present moment.

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"That may be by listening to some music, calming my breathing down by focusing on breathing in and out. Sometimes counting backwards can help or picking five things to look for in a room of the same colour.

"These are all grounding techniques to try to calm the feeling of being so overwhelmed and out of control.

"Once you feel more in control it can be easier to make sense of your anxiety. Some people may like to write this down or talk through it in your own head.

"You may ask yourself things like; what is it I'm worried about? Why am I worried about this? What is the likelihood that it is going to happen?"

If the answer is not likely, it might give you reassurance to not think about it as much, says Hannah. If the likelihood is high, you may ask yourself if this did happen what would I do?

"This will put a plan in place to help you feel more in control. You may also say to yourself if this did happen, I would be ok, placing the confidence back in yourself that you can handle more than you give yourself credit for.

"When we think of how much power we give our thoughts it is a heck of a lot. We sadly then spend so much time overthinking that we lose the present moment, and we miss parts of our life that we wish we hadn't.

"Overthinking and anxiety are not a simple case of 'stop worrying about that.' We don't choose to overthink about things."

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If this is something you do find yourself struggling with, please contact me and I would be more than happy to support you.

You can contact Hannah by visiting her website, calling her on: 07768198184, or emailing: [email protected]. 

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