Don't Overthink It - Anne Bogel Page 0,21

and chat with the neighbors

Phone a friend to check in

Go for a short run

Do a five-minute yoga video on YouTube

Take a walk by myself, with no headphones

Sit on the porch swing for a few minutes

Visit the neighborhood bookstore and browse the shelves

Taking breaks sounds simple, but when we think simple isn’t effective, that’s when we start overcomplicating and overthinking. Our strategies don’t have to be complex to serve us well.

Get Out of Your Own Way

When I was freaking out about those immunization certificates, any of the strategies in this chapter would have helped me. If I’d neatly filed the papers the day I’d obtained them, I wouldn’t have wondered where they were. If I’d completed the cycle by scanning them and sending them to the schools, the task would have been finished. If my desk and counters had been tidier, I wouldn’t have assumed the papers were lying around somewhere. If I’d just gone to bed and left it until morning, I would have saved myself a miserable hour and could have dealt with it the next day when I was fresh and well rested.

Here’s what I did do. I had a good cry about my state of incompetence, read a chapter of the novel in progress on my nightstand, and promptly fell asleep. I woke up the next morning a little embarrassed about my freak-out from the previous evening but with new clarity. I thought I’d last seen those papers in the house, but could they possibly be in the car? I walked outside, still in my pajama pants, and found them right where I’d left them: on the floorboard by the driver’s seat, slightly rumpled, because for over a month I’d been dropping my purse on them every time I got in the car.

When it comes to overthinking, you feel powerless when you don’t know what to do. Well, these are straightforward habits you can develop to set yourself up for success. They sound simple, because they are simple—but don’t underestimate their impact. File your papers. Put the breakfast dishes away. And deal with those forms—today. Because with the right habits, you can stop much overthinking before it starts.

Next Steps

1. Which habits serve you well right now? Which habits need some work?

2. What cycles do you engage in that would be helpful to complete in a timely manner?

3. Is clutter distracting you from what’s important? If yes, where?

4. Can you identify any tasks that you could complete one time and enjoy the benefits repeatedly, like my packing list? If yes, what are they?

5. When it comes to taking care of your body, how would you say you’re doing?

6. What changes, if any, would you like to make as far as sleep, nutrition, and exercise are concerned?

7. What are your favorite ways to take real breaks? What new breaks might you like to try?

6

Speed Up to Move On

Thinking has, many a time, made me sad, darling; but doing never did in all my life. . . . My precept is, “Do something, my sister, do good if you can; but at any rate, do something.”

Elizabeth Gaskell

I’ve ridden a motorcycle once in my life, back in my college days. I wouldn’t call myself the adventurous sort. I’d never wanted or planned to ride a motorcycle, but I needed a ride to the airport, and freshmen like myself weren’t allowed to have cars on campus. We were, however, allowed to have motorcycles—and my friend Luke, grateful for any excuse to take his bike for a ride, jumped at the chance to make the half-hour trip.

When the day came, I told Luke I was a nervous newbie and asked if he could start off slow, for my sake.

He laughed. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but no.”

I knew he loved his bike, but still. How rude. “Gee, thanks,” I said.

“Believe me,” he said, “it’s better this way. If we ride slow, we’ll wobble. You’ve got to speed up to ride steady. It’s like when you learned to ride a bike as a kid. You may feel uncomfortable at first, but you’ll feel a lot better when we hit the gas and get moving.”

He was right. The first few seconds were shaky, but after that, I did enjoy our nice, smooth ride.

Back then I never could have predicted how often I’d think about that one motorcycle ride in the years to come. You might expect that my thoughts turn to Luke and that ride whenever I see two college kids on a bike, but you