Spinning Rides & Over-Thinking

Have you ever been to a county fair? You know, the kind that comes in and sets up almost overnight, bringing all of their death-defying rides in the back of a trailer truck where they arrive in a million pieces? As I was growing up, we never really got to attend these fairs because my parents viewed them as "money pits" and places where the "unsupervised teens hung out". (That's another story for another day...) I have always loved spinning rides at those fairs, but the ones that spin in multiple directions all at once are my favorite. Weird, I know.

I probably like them because that is an exact replication of what my brain does on a daily basis.

Are you an over-thinker, too? This bulk of thoughts probably comes from having many roles and responsibilities, from reading and ingesting large quantities of content and information, and/or from engaging with others in conversation surrounding good ideas and rich topics. Additionally, if you are someone who is a striver by nature (one who looks for ways to always move all the things forward) it just compounds the flow of information and desired output from that information.

As I work on a way to simplify the flow of information in my brain, here are some things that have helped me process my compulsion for overthinking:

1. Take a few minutes (five at the most) to write everything down that is cluttering up the mental flow. Things you have to do, the task you are afraid to forget, that random off-season idea you had, thoughts about work and thoughts about home. Get it all down on paper. Then, you can begin to categorize and prioritize the tasks. When I write everything down, it always seems like the list is not as long as my brain made the list FEEL. Maybe this same tactic will work for you!
2. Take a deep breath and remember what is important. Sometimes I have to literally say out loud, "who I am becoming is more important than what I do right now." These important life-truths can easily become buried in the noise of the every day thought parade. Let's work to unearth them and remind ourselves of them often.
3. Adapt an essentialist view of information intake and processing. If you don't need to engage in deep processing about a topic, maybe you make a conscious choice not to. Instead, do what must be done today. Then, you can begin to tackle the mental overflow when you can come up for air from the daily priorities. This task-by-task approach seems simplistic, but it can help get you through a busy day/season until you can find space to spend time with the rest of your thoughts.

Here's what I know: the thoughts you have are likely good, helpful, and innovative. They will help you strengthen an initiative you're currently working on, improve a product or portion of your organization's workflow, creatively save time/money, and/or consider a new depth of human relationships. The mind is a brilliant originator of ideas! For over-thinkers like me, the task is controlling the flow. If we can utilize purposeful strategies to do so, we can move toward embracing our mental spinning county fair ride and enjoy the journey!