
Ask HN: How do you deal with overthinking? - blizard
I&#x27;m very good at analyzing a complex code, and understanding it quickly, debugging it, ...<p>But I don&#x27;t know if me being analytical and suffering from overthinking has made me a better software engineer, or dealing with complex codes which requires highly analytical thinking has made me a kind of an overthinking person.<p>These days I&#x27;m suffering from overthinking about my personal issues and I just cannot simply ignore them.<p>Sometimes I think it&#x27;s because of my career that I&#x27;ve become an overthinking&#x2F;analytical person. I sometimes think that i should let go of software engineering, despite being very good at it, and becoming let&#x27;s say for example an artist. at least give it a shot. I&#x27;m really really suffering from overthinking.<p>How do you guys deal with overthinking? Does meditation&#x2F;mindfulness help on overthinking? How can I be a highly analytical person when dealing with software but be brain-less to large extent in real life?
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_bxg1
A key thing I realized at one point is that as a human being, thinking isn't
free. I have finite energy resources both emotionally and physically, and when
I'm thinking, I'm expending those resources. Then, with that in mind, I can
turn my analytical mind to the meta-problem of using my mental energy
effectively.

When you shift this way - when you think of your energy as a finite resource
that has to be budgeted and recharged - you see how wasteful all of that extra
thinking really is. Look at every train of thought as a cost/value
proposition, and it becomes really easy to decline most of the really
pointless ones.

Mindfulness also really helps. What it really is, is teasing apart ideas from
the emotional expenditure that normally comes with them. This attacks the
problem from a different angle: making thoughts "cheaper", so that your (still
finite) energy goes further.

What I've also found, is that relentless overthinking often stems from
stress/anxiety (which is of course circularly caused by it, when you're
bottoming-out your energy all the time). What this ends up meaning is, if you
can free up some of your energy and gain some room to breathe, you'll probably
naturally do a lot less overthinking, and have an easier time getting out of
your analytical mindset.

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m_j_g
Based on my own experience, Cognitive behavioral therapy can help with
problems like this. You do not need to talk to therapist, CBT is well suited
for self help, just try to stick to well known, evidence based books.

