Mindfulness for Overthinkers: Find Your Inner Voice

To unwrap and appreciate the present ('cuse the pun)

Gooooooood morning!

This is very new for me. I’m here to start sharing my journey of navigating major life changes by diving headfirst into self-improvement. Why? Because I believe that by opening up about what I've learned, I can help others facing similar challenges. Today, I'm tackling a big one: overthinking. Here's my story of how I learned to quiet the noise and find my own voice amidst the chaos.

There’s so much to process and so little time to make sense of the millions of thoughts racing through your mind every day. With opinions coming at you from all sides—friends, family, the news, social media—it can feel impossible to tune in to your own voice.

I’ve always been an overthinker. On any given day, I catch myself juggling hundreds of thoughts at once. The problem? There are so many that I don’t know which one to follow. Instead of sorting through them, I get overwhelmed and turn to doom scrolling as a way to drown out the noise. But in doing so, I’m just replacing my own voice with everyone else’s—and slowly losing touch with my own identity.

I knew something had to change.

That’s when I decided to take action by practicing mindfulness in my everyday life. I wanted to quiet my thoughts and reconnect with the present moment—the basics of life that often go unnoticed.

Luckily, I have a dog (you’ll meet her soon), so I started with mindful walking. On our walks, I slowed my pace and focused on the details: the sound of my footsteps on the pavement, the hum of cars passing by, the feel of the wind on my face, and even the scents in the air. At first, it wasn’t easy - my mind kept running a mile a minute. But instead of getting frustrated, I gently reminded myself to come back to the moment. Over time, my mind began to quiet down. For the first time in what felt like years, I could hear my voice clearly.

I started bringing mindfulness into other parts of my day:

• Cooking - noticing the steam rising from a pot or the aroma of spices blending

• Showering - feeling the warmth of water on my skin or the tenderness of massaging my head as I wash my hair

• Running - keeping in tune of my breathing or noticing the sting in my muscles

• Brushing my teeth - the taste of minty goodness or running my tongue against my freshly cleaned whites

These simple practices helped me appreciate life’s small moments again while giving me space to stop overthinking and just be.

I won’t lie—it was hard at first. Like building any muscle, it took time and patience. But once I experienced that quiet clarity and fell back in love with life’s little details, it was worth every effort.

If you’re looking to try this for yourself but aren’t sure where to start, I’d recommend using an app like BetterMe. On particularly overwhelming days, having a guided mindfulness practice made all the difference for me - and it might for you too.

So, there you have it – my little experiment with mindfulness. It’s not a magic bullet, but it's a great starting tool that's helped me reclaim my sanity and find joy in everyday basics. If you're feeling overwhelmed by the constant chatter in your mind, I encourage you to give it a try.

If this resonated with you, hit that subscribe button! I have plenty more where that came.

In a while, crocodile! 🐊