How to overcome overthinking

By Daniel Francis

Are you an overthinker? Do you get lost in thought, thinking about all the different scenarios, good and bad, that can happen to you, but then get stuck in a loop with the bad that could happen?

I recently had a conversation with a friend about overthinking, who said something profound that I hadn’t considered before. They said that overthinking is a form of mistrusting God because when you overthink, you are talking yourself out of God’s plan for you.

My friend takes progressive steps in their mental and spiritual development. After we had that initial conversation mentioned above, an active effort was made to curb the overthinking via therapy. Prayer was also used to foster peace.

They said that there is the tendency to get caught in a cycle of chaos mentally, which was described as being caught in an almost endless loop of imagining the worst-case scenarios.

When caught in this loop, my friend feels stuck in place—paralysed by fear—and this fear cripples decision-making and slows or completely halts progress.

Does this happen to you?

Overthinking is not just mental, but it’s a form of spiritual warfare. You are caught in imaginary situations that, when you take a step back and analyse them, are unlikely to occur.

In the example with my friend, their overthinking crippled their decision-making and added a level of mistrust in God’s plan for them. This also heavily disrupted not only their peace but also those around them who want the best for them, and don’t understand the inaction and mental turmoil.

You see, when you overthink, you are bound by ‘what ifs’: What if I fail? What if it does not go to plan? What if this is the wrong decision? What if I should be investing my energy elsewhere?

These ‘what ifs’ hold you down from the things God never told you to carry. When you truly trust God, you won’t be burdened by these ‘what if’ scenarios because with trust comes peace. Peace that even though you are unsure, afraid, or you feel unready, God will pave the way forward. He will prepare in the background; He will ensure you meet the necessary people; and He will guide you where you need to go. This can’t happen if you are paralysed by overthinking.

Overthinking is the enemy’s way of keeping your mind racing so that your spirit stays stuck. He knows that if he can control your thought patterns, then he doesn’t need to physically do anything to you; you will handle the rest. You will talk yourself out of peace, talk yourself out of obedience, and talk yourself out of God’s plan for you. He will essentially have you second-guessing what’s for you.

2 Corinthians 10:5 states, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Take each thought captive and make it obedient to God. Why do we need to do this? Because if we don’t interrogate our thoughts, they can become strongholds to imaginary realities that keep us locked in place.

When we don’t make our thoughts obedient to God, we replace faith with fear, prayer with panic, and we trade peace for pressure. You will be overanalysing what God already gave you the green light on.

Replace the lie

How do we fix this problem? Firstly, get into a habit of identifying when you are in an overthinking loop. When you have done this, trace the lie within the cycle.

What false narrative has caused you to believe that you must overanalyse and doubt God?

Secondly, replace the lie with the truth and declare it as truth. You know what the truth is, and you must declare it until you believe it.

Finally, replace your spiralling with prayer. Get in conversation with God and allow Him to take charge of your experience. Let the peace of God guard your mind and heart.

Learn to be at peace with your thoughts so that your actions move in parallel with God’s plan for you.

Daniel Francis is a millennial helping other millennials. He is a two-time author of the books The Millennial Mind and The Millennial Experience, and an entrepreneur. Over the past four years, he has served as a Personal Development Coach whose work targets Millennials and helps them tap into their full potential. He is also a self-publishing coach and has guided hundreds on self-publishing their book successfully.

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