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Overthinking can feel like your brain is running a nonstop marathon—and sometimes, it feels impossible to catch a break.

In the last post, we explored why our minds spiral and why overthinking isn’t a flaw, but a brain in overdrive. Today, we’re going one step further.

I’ve tested five practical, simple techniques from Nick Trenton’s Stop Overthinking that actually help you step out of the loop, calm your mind, and take action—without forcing or fighting your thoughts.

Five Ways to Step Out of Your Head 🚪

Overthinking doesn’t disappear because we understand it.

It fades when we interrupt it—consistently and gently.

None of the following tips are about forcing your mind to be quiet. They’re about giving your thoughts a container, a direction, or a pause.

Here are the five strategies that helped me the most—and that I’ve tested myself.

Tip #1: Put Your Thoughts Somewhere Else. 📝

I keep a small notebook in my apartment that I only use during particularly stressful moments. I used to write in it much more often. These days, I manage my stress and overthinking fairly well—but every now and then, it still comes in handy.

When I write, I start with what bothers me. I don’t filter. I don’t soften it. I let myself be negative and write down whatever comes to mind: my worries, my frustration, how I feel.

Only after everything is out, I deliberately shift gears.

I ask myself:

• What can I learn from this?
• Is there anything good about this situation?
• What can I change?
• What’s my conclusion—and what action follows?

That shift is crucial.

A stress journal helps you identify triggers and observe your reactions. Writing channels your thoughts. It forces your brain to move away from the chaotic loop and into something structured.

But there’s an important rule:

Don’t feed your overthinking with it.

This is not the place for perfectionism. If needed, set a clear limit—either a timer or a page count—before you move from negative thoughts to constructive ones.

When I first started, I gave myself five minutes to rant.

Five minutes to let off steam.

And then I had to come up with something helpful.

That simple boundary made a huge difference.

I use my stress journal not only for acute stress, but also when something keeps bothering me for days—when my mind keeps circling back to the same thought. That’s my signal: it needs to get out.

And once it’s out, it’s done.

I close the journal and I don’t look at it again. I don’t reread it. I don’t analyze it further.

I learned that the hard way.

Once, I reread an old journal entry. The emotions came rushing back immediately—and I felt awful. Never again. Write it down. Close the journal. That’s it.

Only chili tastes good when reheated.

Another option is a gratitude journal.

Overthinking often comes with anxiety and depression, making it hard to notice the good around us. A gratitude journal retrain your awareness—you’re not ignoring the hard stuff, just widening your perspective.

Smyth et al. (2018) found that writing about positive emotions for a month can boost wellbeing and reduce stress and anxiety.

A simple approach works best: start with what’s bothering you, then shift to “What am I grateful for?” Not because everything is perfect—but because not everything is bad.

🚀 Lesson Learned: Journaling gives your thoughts a home—vent, observe, then let go. Gratitude shifts focus to what’s good without ignoring what’s hard.

Tip #2: Put Your Life on the Calendar 🗓️

Bad time management creates stress. That’s why advice like “Just chill. Take a break.” rarely works. In fact, it often makes things worse.

Ever tried telling an angry mom to “chill”?

Exactly. You’d have better chances fighting a dragon with a stick.

The only real way to reduce this kind of stress is to improve how you manage your time. Sounds easy, right?

It isn’t.

I’m still not great at it—but I’m getting better. And when things get really stressful, I fall back on a few techniques that help me regain control. Not just in terms of productivity, but also my overall wellbeing (as research suggests).

The key is not losing yourself in the process.

As overthinkers, we tend to optimize everything except ourselves. Our rest, recovery, and joy slowly move to the background. That’s why planning breaks actually matters. When rest is intentional, “take a break” suddenly becomes good advice.

One technique that helped me a lot—especially during my first semester while studying anatomy and physiology—was time blocking.

The idea is simple: you start with priorities.

Fixed commitments—like lectures and commuting—come first. Then block time for essentials that support your wellbeing, like training, social commitments, or deadlines. Only after that do you fill remaining gaps with study or work.

This method gave me clarity, control, and resilience, while still leaving room for flexibility and “dead time” to catch up on anything that didn’t fit.

Most people rely on to-do lists instead.

The problem?

They’re usually overloaded.

And the things we actually need for our sanity—working out, reading, meditating—end up at the very bottom.

Let me give you an example.

When I moved into my apartment, “clean the windows” sat on my to-do list for about a year and a half. A year and a half to “find the time.”

Let’s be honest.

I didn’t want to do it.

So if you tell yourself you’ll do the things you enjoy when you have time—you won’t. Put them into your calendar. I blocked my workouts every week for two years—until they became automatic.

Take time for yourself.

And if necessary, schedule it.

Another technique that helped me for quite a while—and that I time-blocked and still use occasionally—is choosing a daily highlight. You could also call it a daily adventure to make it more exciting.

Every day, you pick one task that matters. One thing you really want to finish. It can be calling your grandma, cooking a healthy meal, completing a project, or preparing a presentation. It doesn’t matter what it is—as long as it moves you forward.

And finally, a slightly counterintuitive one:

Sometimes, it helps to schedule your overthinking.

If you’re lying in bed and your mind won’t shut up, tell yourself: Tomorrow at 10:00, I’ll think about this for 15 minutes. Put it in your calendar.

Chances are, you’ll have forgotten it by then.

Win.

And if not—stick to the timeframe.

Fifteen minutes.

Not more.

🚀 Lesson Learned: Plan your priorities, schedule breaks, and block time for what matters—when it’s on the calendar, it actually gets done.

Tip #3: Come Back to Your Senses 👣

This technique probably had the biggest impact on me — and on many of my patients.

It’s incredibly simple. And that’s exactly why it’s so powerful.

It pulls you into the present immediately.

We like to believe we can multitask. This technique proves otherwise.

It interrupts overthinking and dramatically increases awareness. Here’s how it works:

Engage your five senses, counting down from five:

• 5 things you can see Name them—silently or out loud. If it helps, describe them or at least name their color.
• 4 things you can feel or touch Notice the sensation. Is it soft, rough, warm, sticky, smooth?
• 3 things you can hear Describe the sound. Is it loud or quiet? Constant or intermittent?
• 2 things you can smell Take your time. Even subtle scents count.
• 1 thing you can taste This one is harder. It requires focus. Maybe it’s coffee from this morning, toothpaste, or simply the taste in your mouth right now.

Now—what were you just thinking about?

Exactly.

You don’t know.

Stop. That was the point. We just broke the loop.

If you can’t remember the exact order, that’s fine. The only thing that matters is this: engage your senses and count down from five.

Another technique that works in a very similar way is alternate nostril breathing (although this isn’t mentioned in the book, it’s something I learned along the way).

Here’s how to do it:

• Use your right hand.
• Extend your thumb and your ring finger + little finger.
• Your index and middle finger rest in your palm.

Now:

1. Close your right nostril with your thumb and breathe in through the left.
2. Switch fingers. Close the left nostril and breathe out through the right.
3. Breathe in through the right nostril.
4. Switch again and breathe out through the left.

Continue this pattern slowly for a few rounds.

You don’t need to do it perfectly. In fact, messing it up is part of the point—because you’re focused on what you’re doing, not on what you’re thinking.

Benefits:

• It shifts the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, helping your body calm down.
• It demands attention, leaving no space for overthinking.
• And while the urge to overthink will return, your brain starts learning an alternative response.

You’re not erasing the habit.

You’re replacing it.

🚀 Lesson Learned: Pull yourself into the present by engaging your senses or your breath—small, focused actions break the overthinking loop and train your brain to respond differently.

Tip #4: Change the Story You’re Telling Yourself 🐲

Tell yourself your own story.

By externalizing your thoughts, you create distance between you and your emotions. Your problems move outside of you—and that alone makes them easier to handle.

This technique is rooted in narrative therapy. It allows you to look at your life from a different, calmer perspective—and that shift is often where real change begins.

One thing to keep in mind:

You are not your problems. You are not your mistakes.

Clouds are not the sky.

When clouds fade, the sky is still there.

And when your problems fade, you are still there.

You can even turn this into a simple mantra:

“My problems do not define me.”

What often defines our actions instead is fear—and the way we talk to ourselves when we’re scared.

I follow a snowboarder family on Instagram with a little girl who rides unbelievably well. Her parents taught her something powerful. Whenever she gets scared, they ask:

“What do we do then?”

And she answers:

“We do it scared.”

I love that.

It’s okay to be scared. Tell yourself that.

Then do it anyway.

Just don’t let fear decide your actions.

Another way to create distance is through visualization.

Imagine taking your overthinking thoughts and blowing them into a balloon. Watch it float away. Follow it with your eyes as it rises higher and higher—until it disappears.

Gone.

(Nerdy side note: I looked it up. Weather balloons can reach up to 38 kilometers before they burst. Just in case you were wondering.)

You can also use creativity to externalize your thoughts.

Draw them.

Write a song about them.

Sing it—loud, off-key, and with enthusiasm.

It doesn’t have to make sense.

It doesn’t have to be good.

Just get it out—and then let it go.

When my thoughts won’t stop, I sometimes dance it out. I picked that up from early seasons of Grey’s Anatomy. Funny enough, that’s also a form of externalization.

Another option: turn your overthinking into a character.

Give it a name.

Whenever it shows up, say something like:

“Well, Herbert. Nice to have you back. Thinking again?”

I use a similar approach with patients who struggle to go for a walk or work out. One patient taught me this herself. Whenever she doesn’t want to leave the house, she tells herself:

“Alright, Berta. We can discuss this on the move.”

And off she goes.

🚀 Lesson Learned: Externalize your thoughts—tell your story, visualize, or even personify your overthinking—to create distance and regain control over your mind.

Tip #5: Be Your Own Cheerleader 📣

The problem with overthinking isn’t just that our thoughts turn negative.

Our emotions, our behavior, and especially our language do too—particularly the way we talk to ourselves.

We speak to ourselves in ways we would never speak to a friend.

We become impatient, unfair, and harsh. And over time, that inner dialogue shapes how we see ourselves.

But the voice in your head isn’t “just thoughts.”

It’s your mindset.

And mindset matters.

It determines how we deal with setbacks, how we face challenges, and whether we’re able to bounce back at all.

Just like any other relationship, the relationship you have with yourself can change over time. You can learn to meet yourself with kindness and respect.

There’s a quote from a book series I deeply admire—one that stayed with me through my mid twenties (this is a rough translation from German):

Those who believe that respect and kindness cannot coexist are wrong—they are, in fact, inseparable. Whom do I respect more than someone who meets me with kindness, even though they are certain of my respect?

The Owl of Askir

When we treat ourselves with kindness, our self-respect grows with it.

The challenge: turning negative self-talk into supportive dialogue is easier when you’re calm, not when you’re spiraling. Deep in a negative loop, it’s much harder to shift.

I combined insights from Nick Trenton’s Stop Overthinking with Dr. Shad Helmstetter’s What to Say When You Talk to Yourself. These taught me how to turn my inner critic into my inner cheerleader. Nobody can hit you as hard as you can hit yourself—so why be your own enemy?

Start by picking a mantra—one sentence to anchor you. Practice it in calm moments first: meditation, yoga, or quiet breaks. Then use it in slightly more challenging situations. Over time, your brain learns to associate it with calm and safety, rewiring your nervous system.

If you’re struggling to find a mantra, Helmstetter’s 365 Days Of Positive Self-Talk is a great resource. It gives ideas and inspiration to start training your mind with supportive, positive messages.

Here’s mine, from my favorite show Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which has saved me countless times:

“The steps you take don’t need to be big. They just need to take you in the right direction.”

Jemma Simmons

Your brain wants the best for you. Overthinking is just a misguided strategy. Be your own guide—choose the right one.

🚀 Lesson Learned: Treat yourself with kindness and support—practice a simple mantra regularly to turn your inner critic into your inner cheerleader.

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📝 Key takeaways

• Overthinking is natural—but you can manage it with awareness and structure.
• Tip #1: Journaling gives your thoughts a container. Let negativity out, then shift to reflection and gratitude.
• Tip #2: Time-block your life. Schedule priorities, rest, and enjoyable activities to regain control and reduce stress.
• Tip #3: Bring yourself into the present. Use your senses or breathing techniques to break the overthinking loop.
• Tip #4: Externalize your thoughts. Tell your story, visualize, or create a character to gain distance and clarity.
• Tip #5: Be your own cheerleader. Practice positive self-talk and mantras to reprogram your mindset.

Overthinking fades not by force, but by gently redirecting your attention, giving your mind structure, and cultivating kindness toward yourself.

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Thanks for spending this time with me. Keep exploring, stay open to new ideas, and remember—growth is a journey, not a destination.

Take care,

Carina 🦊