How To Deal With Solitude As An Over-Thinker
How It Feels To Overthink About Being In Solitude
Solitude is the truest way to see how you feel about your own company. When you get time by yourself, the feeling that follows is a taste of that truth. Do you distract, fill up that alone time, or have a deep uncomfortable feeling that doesn’t go away until you’re not alone again?
When you’re alone, all that’s left is you, your thoughts, and your feelings. When you’re alone the thinking begins and what’s involved in those thoughts probably dictates how you feel about solitude. When those thoughts are filled with junk that make you feel down about yourself, maybe inadequate in the place you are in life, or puts you on a cycle of ruminating about an experience you’ve had..your relationship with solitude is probably one that makes you want to run from your mind.
What Is Overthinking About Being In Solitude Is Doing To My Life?
I think the moment that we allow overthinking into our solitude is when things go south. We’re finally in our own energy away from any other people, distractions of the internet, and away from the world around us and here come all the thoughts. When that time spent with ourselves could be so relaxing, the thinking disrupts that peace and that abrupt disruption that really just creeps in is what I think robs a lot our connections with being alone.
A natural association with solitude can be daunting, and that comes from the overthinking aspect of the time spent by yourself. If you spent time with somebody that drained you, only talked about things that were scary or negative we would probably have the sense to not want to associate with that person. And the same ideas goes for the relationship we have with our own mind and thoughts. We can disrupt the overthinking in the time we get with ourselves, and choose to move those thoughts into a place that is more fun and calm.
What Made Me Want To Change My View On Being In Solitude?
Overthinking is usually not a fun experience, in the sense that it’s so serious. It’s usually so tied to how are things going to work out, I need every answer to every problem I have, and it’s very stress provoking. And if you’ve had that experience like I have then yes, time spent in solitude sounds more like a chore than something to look forward to.
A big missing piece of being an overthinker, is reminding yourself to have fun, enjoy, and add in a sense of play to the way you think and experience your alone time. I associated so much of myself with being so serious and wanting to be perfect, that I was stuck in my head thinking about how to do that. The mistake here was that so much of learning about who you are happens when you’re doing something, creating something, trying something new, anything really to just have fun, not thinking about it.
What I Thought About To Make Changes In My View On Solitude
The approach you bring to the time you spend alone with yourself is what’s going to make all the difference. You have all the power in your mind to redirect the way your brain is talking to you, and instead of allowing yourself to sit and think, go and do something with yourself. Time and time again I have to remind myself that I truly believe action is an antidote to overthinking.
Doing things with yourself instead of thinking alone with yourself is what sets solitude and loneliness apart for me. I enjoy my own company, and in fact most of the time prefer my own company to the company of the outside world, but I keep my mind on a leash and don’t let myself think just anything. I want to enjoy my mind and being with myself, and that comes from thinking about ideas, dreams, and encouraging myself instead of what if’s, fake scenarios, or my biggest downfall moments..because that’s not fun to think about.
What I Chose To Do With What I Learned About Being In Solitude
Solitude and loneliness are entirely two different things, and they all have to do with how you feel about yourself and what you’re doing with that precious time you have to yourself. My biggest takeaway from reflecting about solitude is to do more things with yourself that make you feel, that make you have a sense of awe, to follow your curiosity, to laugh at least once. Because when you’re making it a point to do those things, overthinking and doing cannot coexist.
Soon enough your mind will see that spending time alone with yourself will come with doing and being and experiencing instead of dreading the cage of your mind for a consecutive amount of time with no escape, what a fun trade off!
How I Carried Out What I Learned About Being In Solitude
Time spent in solitude can absolutely be planned and looked forward too, exactly like a date just with yourself. A perfect, intentional decision to spend time enjoying the moments with just you, learning something new about yourself, and getting out of your head and into your life.
In the same breath, solitude can also find its way into your day spontaneously. I think this is a time when you have a crossroads to go back to overthinking because it wasn’t planned and you’re alone. Or, you can choose to see this time as an opportunity to rest and give yourself time away from the world that you might not have everyday.
Choosing to do something fun and actually being in the moment of enjoying is essential to making your time in solitude something to look forward to. Revert to your inner child for inspiration, and let yourself be anything but serious and watch your mind and body actually relax. Solitude is a gift, it’s a reset, it an opportunity, it’s relaxing, it’s a time for fun, and learning.
The mindset you give to the time and the things that are in front of you at the moment will set the tone for how we see them and what we do with them to make ourselves enjoy our lives. Solitude gives you a chance to be your own friend and turn your mind into a friend that’s enthusiastic, authentic, and always along for the ride in a way that’s uplifting and encouraging.
