I’m a massive OVERTHINKER! Like HUGE!!
On the plus side, I’m also a very deep thinker, but seriously, I can think for days on one topic, weeks even. I ruminate, worry, I track every angle. I just really like to work things out!
I’ve learned a few things about doing this that I want to share, because I know so many other people out there are doing the same, thinking, thinking, thinking, and not necessarily a whole lot of doing.
All this overthinking can sometimes hold you back from what you want out of life. You see, we get so attached to our feelings, that we think they are REAL. We think that they are the TRUTH.
But I’ve got news for you – THEY ARE NOT!
When I realised how ‘in my feelings’ I was being recently, I realised it’s going to take real strength of character to get out of them. All too often, I found I was waiting for an ‘opportune moment’ where my feelings would change, for motivation to return, to strike, for that sudden flash of inspiration so big, that I would just click into motion and begin ‘doing’!
Instead, it was fits and starts, sometimes I was highly motivated, sometimes I was stuck, stopped…
More often than not in life, that motivation does not happen all by itself. Sometimes we are left waiting.
I realised that I had expected motivation to turn up (like a bus!), that I was entitled to it!! It should just arrive to serve me, be there for me! When, no, very often, you have to CREATE it!
So in this discovery I learned the real trick of staying consistent, and creating ‘flow’ in your life is to somehow learn to put your feelings aside, and do whatever it is you KNOW to do, whether you actually ‘feel like it’ or not.
You may ‘know’ to do many things, as simple as; eat, go to bed early, move your body. And when you’re really ‘in your feelings’ you have to start with things as basic as this.
Action, after all, is everything!
Taking baby steps, leads to bigger steps, which lead to growth, consistency, and feeling good about yourself.
So here are my 5 tips to ‘get out of your feelings’ and “do it anyway”
1. Firstly, acknowledge your thoughts and feelings, name them, allow them to ‘BE’. (Don’t judge them, allow them)
2. Acknowledge that they are just thoughts and feelings, they are not the ‘REAL YOU’!. Become the witness of them, rather than letting them be ‘your truth’. They are simply your inner chatter. (it’s worth noting that your thoughts are often just trying to keep you safe, they are automatic!)
3. Check-in with yourself as to whether these thoughts or feelings are attached to any self-destructive patterns of behaviour, survival mechanisms, comfort zones or ‘get out of jail free card’ scenarios. Trust yourself to know the answer.
4. If these ‘thoughts and feelings’ are not coming from a ‘creative energy’, from your value system, or from your purpose’, then resolve to take the action in spite of the feelings. Create a possibility that inspires you. (Motivation can be created, it is not your given right!)
5. Then, just keep showing up for yourself, every time you are stopped, and you will eventually become the master of your thoughts and feelings over time, rather than letting them be the master of YOU! Eventually, you won’t have to create it daily, it will just become a habit.
When we consistently ‘do’. Then we can get into ‘flow’, and eventually, we find MASTERY.
Always remember to accept that the results you want can take time, however, the continuous ‘showing up for yourself’ is all you need to focus on, not the results! Trust that they will come in due time.
