The Overthinking Trap & How to Break Free

Stuck In An Overthinking Spiral? Here’s How To Break Free  Your brain won’t shut up. You’re replaying past conversations, obsessing over worst-case scenarios, and struggling to make decisions because you fear making the wrong choice. Sound familiar? You’re trapped in The Overthinking Trap—but there’s a way out. In this episode, I break down why your brain overthinks, how to recognize when you're caught in a loop, and 3 science-backed techniques to help you stop anxious thoughts fast. 🎧 Listen now & reclaim your peace! 📌 In This Episode, You’ll Learn: ✅ Why overthinking happens (the brain science behind it) ✅ How your amygdala & fight-or-flight mode create worst-case scenarios ✅ The Overthinking Test to recognize when you’re spiraling ✅ 3 simple techniques to break the overthinking cycle—FAST ✅ How to use the 5-4-3-2-1 Power Pause to instantly quiet your mind 🔹 Want more tools to stop anxious overthinking? Grab my free Stop Anxious Overthinking Mini-Book—your step-by-step guide to rewiring your thoughts. Download here 👉 https://www.megan-nolan.com/mb Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!     Welcome back to another episode of the Movement, Mind and Meaning podcast. I'm 00:00:04,1000 --> 00:00:07,1000your host, Megan Nolan, and that is what 00:00:07,1000 --> 00:00:10,760we are talking about today. How to break free from the pattern of overthinking that can happen so often when we are feeling anxious or depressed. And so this overthinking series is in honor of my brand new free mini book called Stop Anxious Overthinking 11 Techniques to Break the Spiral and Reclaim Your. Mental freedom. It is totally free. You get instant access by heading over to the link in the show notes and grabbing it. 00:00:37,1000 --> 00:00:40,720Literally tools that are going to change the game for you if you are ready to reclaim that mental space and ease and feel like you're in control of your life and your energy and your mood by having these tools literally at your fingertips. Is what's available for you is what's waiting for you inside this free mini book. So make sure to head over to the link in the show notes of the video or the podcast and grab this free mini book. So let's talk about it. Have you ever had the feeling of?Your brain just going and looping over the same thing over and over. Maybe it's something that you have coming up. Maybe it's something that you did and you feel as though it just won't stop replaying these 00:01:21,1000 --> 00:01:23,760conversations in your head, literally going over in minutiae detail, the what you were doing, how you were standing, how the person was looking at you, whether they're not looking at you, what you said, what you didn't say, like obsessing over every. Freaking detail. Or maybe worrying about things that you can't control and just constantly going over and looping and looping and looping. Even just talking about it, I can feel, I can feel it in my body. It feels like bubbling, boiling water in my body right now. The thought of what it feels like to be in those overthinking loops. And the reality is it's not just frustrating. To notice when you're in these and just be in them and just feel like you're on one of those. Remember those?What was it like the Gravitron?I think it might not be called the Gravitron. You remember when you go to like amusement parks, maybe you still go and you're you're in the spot and and you're kind of pinned to the wall and you're just going in every different direction or like the teacups gone wild. I like the teacups at Disney World. You know, you just like spinning 00:02:30,1000 --> 00:02:32,480in a circle and then in a big circle. That's kind of what overthinking feels like. More like the Gravitron than the. Teacup ride, maybe the teacup ride if it went on extra Mach speed. So what we're going to talk about today is not only does overthinking lend to anxiety, to 00:02:45,1000 --> 00:02:48,400stress, to actually decision paralysis, it doesn't really actually lend to us making really good decisions. Why we overthink, you know, the science behind it. Because you know me, I love my science. How to recognize when you're in these loops. And really begin to shift them, right?And inside the mini book, there are a lot of different techniques for you to do, but we'll go over some of those today. And also because this show is about mind and body tools to thrive beyond depression and anxiety, we're going to talk about it from those two different perspectives because it's associated with both and for different reasons and in different directions. So why does our brain love to overthink?Well, the reality is, is that it actually thinks it's doing us a favor because it's very solution based, right? And So what tends to happen here is that 00:03:36,1000 --> 00:03:39,280our brain is just constantly searching for the answer, right?Our brain, your brain is wired for survival, survival first, logic second. And when we are experiencing something that is stressing us out or is causing us to detect any sort of problem threat. Perceived problem, perceived threat. It 00:03:57,1000 --> 00:04:00,160can trigger emotional responses, right?It can trigger anxiety. It can trigger fear. It's basically our body is activating the survival state, right?So we're in a sympathetic state. And so when our amygdala, which is responsible for survival and is the fear center in our brain that activates when we're experiencing something that's either, you know, triggering for us or potentially triggering for us. It's sensing danger, right?And so this is a wired system that, you know, whether this danger is real, like a speeding car coming towards us, or imagined, like, did I say something stupid in the meaning?Like, why did they all look at me like that?It's activating our fight or flight response. And so we go into go mode. Right. And typically with anxiety, a lot of people get activated in the flight response and in the like get me the hell out of here and we get the hell out of there and then we just loop in the overthinking. But for myself and for those of you that experience high functioning anxiety, we tend to go into fight mode, right. And So what tends to happen here is that our brain is still looking for these perceived or very real dangers like predators or these threats of, you know, instead of. Lions, which would be a very real predator, and depending on where you live, maybe it's a very real thing for you. You know, luckily here in Hawaii, our biggest predator is like the centipede, and those things are scary. Don't even get me started on the feels like fire down your leg when they pinch you. It our brain is looking for similar things on a similar scale. Maybe it's social rejection, maybe it's failure, maybe it's feeling of uncertainty and those are the dangers, right. And so it's looking at those as potential dangers. Not so much, you know, looking for the lion, if you will, but that that feeling of oh, well, I'm going to do this big promotion in your in your business or for your job and having it fall flat and and being worried about what would happen. Like maybe maybe I'm going to, I'm going to lose my business. I'm going to go bankrupt. I'm going to. Lose my house. I'm going to do and it's just and you're down the spiral real quick. What it's doing here is creating worst case scenarios, right? So it's potentially preparing you for anything and everything. Even if those aren't real or an innate possibility, it perceives it as a dangerous threat. And So what it's doing here is it's. It's attempting to solve the problem. It's attempting to shift this reality for you. And although you know this obsession, these thought patterns, these loops that we get into, we get into these repetitive thoughts that we're having and we just worry about the same thing, you know, and we're thinking, oh, this and that and you know, like. I really should. I really should get that get get doing my taxes because you know what if I what if I'm late this year and what if you know and and it just feels like that chicken with a head cut off. And So what it's doing is although our brain is is obsessing about these details of the conversation or or you know the way that person looked at you or whatever and it's just going over it over and over and over. It thinks that it's solving a problem. It's looking for a key piece of information. That you missed that might be the solution to the whole issue. But The thing is, is that maybe you've heard me say this before. Einstein said that we can't solve the problem from the same level of thinking. So the reality is, is when we're active in the amygdala part of our brain, we're in a survival state. We have a very narrowed focus in our pupils. Our heart rate is elevated, our breathing gets faster, muscle. The blood flow is shunted to the muscles rather than digestive organs. So we tend to we're in a literal go mode, right?So we're in a survival state. The active part of our brain, the amygdala, is not where we get these beautiful ideas and. Insirations and creativity flow. It's just not where that comes from in our brain. That comes from our prefrontal cortex. And so The thing is, is that when we notice that we're in these loop of overthinking and we recognize these patterns in ourself of. Of worrying and and worrying about the same thing and then look thinking about it this way and then what about that way and then and you're just in that same you're basically just walking around in a circle and we're 00:08:19,1000 --> 00:08:22,760grooving this pattern in our brain and and we're not going to find a solution. 00:08:25,1000 --> 00:08:28,320We're not and and our brain is telling us that you know yes we got to figure this out. We got to figure this out right now and it's just looping around in the same thoughts and and and then it'll find something else to fixate on and what about this and what about this and then so. What we need to do, what we get to do when we notice that we're in these overthinking loops, is to interrupt the pattern, right?We must interrupt the pattern. We need that level of. Nothing that simple like. Do you notice the shift?That's like, ooh I'm paying attention, right?You've you've stopped yourself. It's like when the coach at school would blow the whistle, blow the whistle, and everyone would pay attention. You realize what was I just giving my attention to, right?What were you just feeding in that moment?Because what we focus on growth and what we're doing here is when we're in overthinking, our ability to make decisions and come up with new ideas has been hijacked. And so it's not only going to lead to that feeling of anxiety, that worried quality, that mental exhaustion, because you're using glucose to just loop around in circles. We're replaying the past conversations. We're analyzing every word, right?We're struggling to make decisions because you're worried about making the wrong choice. You're assuming, you know, all of these things that you're, you know, unless you're psychic, that you're just a mind reader. It's it's do you see now it's really a. Self-defeating pattern and we all do it. And and when I share this with you, I share this from a place of like I do this and I recognize this, you know, but I just catch it sooner because I've learned this about myself and about the human brain is that this is our pattern. And so when you notice yourself in these overthinking loops or you're getting really self-critical or you're hearing yourself in that pattern of. of going back into the past and and looping back in in a sense of rumination if you're feeling sad, then we want to ask ourselves, is this thought helping me or hurting me? Is this thought helping me or hurting me? Because when we're in that overthinking loop, most of the time it's very self-critical. Not always, but a lot of the time. So is this thought hurting me or 00:10:53,1000 --> 00:10:56,400helping me?Next question, am I dwelling on the problem or am I looking for a solution? That to me was a kicker because I had a tendency to really beat myself up for mistakes and dwell on the problem and. You maybe have heard me talk about how if we go back and we repeat the same thing over and over in our head and we see ourself making the same mistake and Oh my God, and we rethink it, we're just looping that pattern even deeper. We're just walking that path in in our brain even deeper, right?We're fortifying that neural pathway and we're making it more likely that we will make that mistake again in the future because you're repeating it and your brain's saying, oh, OK, this, this is what this is, they're practicing this, they're 00:11:39,1000 --> 00:11:42,320mentally rehearsing this. Right. And and you know, Olympic athletes and other people, musicians and such, they use this to their benefit. They mentally rehearse taking that last winning shot. They see themselves on the podium. But that's when we are doing this practice in a beneficial way to move you towards your goal and your vision. If you're mentally rehearsing the time you screwed up and you, you know, you said the F word in the middle of your presentation to like pitch to the CEO, whatever, and they don't like swearing, you know, like whatever it is, worst case scenario, you know, or you fell flat on your face or whatever. Hopefully not. But if we repeat that same pattern, we fortify that pathway and that behavior. OK, so is this thought hurting me or helping me?Am I problem solving here?Am I?Or am I just? 00:12:31,1000 --> 00:12:34,800Dwelling on the issue, right?Or am I looking for a solution?OK, I think I said it slightly differently before, but am I stuck in the problem or am I am I finding a solution?And then finally, will this matter in a month?Will this matter in a year?Will this matter on my last day?What you're doing there is you're taking yourself out of it and you're getting a different perspective and you're recognizing. OK, probably not, right. And and so or maybe, you know, and so those are really 00:13:01,1000 --> 00:13:03,1000important to how to recognize when you're 00:13:03,1000 --> 00:13:06,360in an overthinking loop, questions to ask yourself to interrupt the pattern. And that's really key, right?That's super key because when we are catching ourself in this pattern and you're recognizing it, the brain will say no, no, no, no, we we are, we're solving problems here. We need to figure this out. And it can feel really hard to do anything else. Because we have been hijacked by that part of our brain that's looking for 00:13:29,1000 --> 00:13:32,480a survival solution here, right?It's it's trying to solve the problem, but we are not available for other perspective. Remember, so your pupils are narrowed. You're very, you're very hyper fixated on what's in front of you. So when we take a step back, when we take a power pause, when we widen the lens, when we shift our state, when we come back, when we pause, when we practice that level of grounding yourself. After you catch yourself in that pattern, you're able to formulate a response rather than reacting, and you're able to access more wisdom, more guidance, more perspective. You're widening the lens. Literally, your pupils will dilate. You'll see more. 00:14:09,1000 --> 00:14:11,920You'll see you'll have a wider perspective physiologically, like meaning in your body, but also from the whole situation. OK, so. This is just really interesting, right?Because what's happening here is the that searching for the solution is is really, it's so beneficial. And of course we want to look forward and of course we want to imagine and and be creative. But The thing is, is that when the overthinking has taken hold, there's a fine line between looking for a solution and obsessing over the problem. And we know that one of the indicators of that is how you feel. Because if you notice that you're starting to feel, and you know now that feeling the feels that that is the cue from your nervous system of the state that you're in. And if you notice that you're in this thought pattern and it's making you feel really worried and you're starting to feel sick to your stomach, or 00:15:07,1000 --> 00:15:09,760you're feeling really regretful or you're feeling really shameful, then that will be an indicator of being in that overthinking pattern. Right. 00:15:17,1000 --> 00:15:20,560Whereas when you're in that creative exploration, open-hearted, open-minded state, it's a much different feeling, right?It's it's excited, it's playful, it's creative. And so just really looking at it from that, maybe you hear the thoughts you're thinking and you, you notice, oh man, I'm like obsessing over this. It's a level of self-awareness, right?And that's this is really. The depth of this work, and this is yoga in action, is the level of 00:15:47,1000 --> 00:15:50,320self-awareness that a lot of people don't have and they just loop. They just loop over and over and over. So you might notice it, you might hear yourself, or you might hear yourself saying the same thing to the 4th person this day and you're like, oh, I'm really worried about this and you're having the same conversation with multiple people. 00:16:07,1000 --> 00:16:09,400That could be a cue. That could be an indicator, right?Or maybe it's I've been thinking about this all freaking day. I woke up thinking about it. I'm still thinking about it. You know, you you hear yourself either out loud or in your head. And to go deeper, when you're thinking those thoughts, notice the feeling in your body, right?Is it an expansive feeling?Is it an uplifted feeling?Is it a a joyful, lighthearted, higher vibrational feeling?Or is it not? Right. Because when it's not, when we're in those tighter, restrictive, uncomfortable, painful feelings in our body, then it's a really powerful indicator of where we are at and is this something that we want to continue, right. And that's The thing is that learning to interrupt this, learning to recognize, to witness yourself in these patterns, you are developing a level of agency that is. Next level like this is ninja status that you are being able to recognize this because your brain is going to do everything. But I I can't. I can't stop right now. I need to think about I'm so close to, you know, and like it will, it just takes its hands and just holds on just a little bit tighter because The thing is, is that. Your brain is in survival mode, and that's what it's wired to do. But we cannot think our way out of overthinking. And if you're you notice that you're 00:17:31,1000 --> 00:17:34,200overthinking about something or you're obsessing about something, that's when we get to do a pattern interrupt. That's when we get to break the cycle. And that's where inside the Stop the Anxious Overthinking mini book, there's 11 different ways for you to do that, right? And so I already shared one of them, and it's that that 00:17:52,1000 --> 00:17:55,480Perspective shift of will this matter in a month?Will this matter in a year?And you're zoning out, you're zooming forward to see is is this really worth you fixating on?Are you making progress or are you just digging the hole deeper? And so this is again, this is a protective pattern. Right. This is a protective pattern. So anxiety is a stress response. And if we tend to go into overthinking and we tend to get into those patterns of being self-critical or being very judgmental of ourself, that's a pattern. That's a pattern in our brain, right?And and that's our brain's ability of attempting to control the situation and showing you that you made these mistakes so that you don't make the mistakes again. And so it's important when we notice that we're beating ourself up over something, it's really important that we have that level of self-compassion so that we can begin to recognize that, honor that, hold space for that and begin to move beyond it, right, move beyond it. And so I don't know if you can hear that gurgling sound, but. It's my new water feature. Just kidding. I think something's gurgling in the pipe. Not my stomach. I'm right beside my kitchen sink. I don't know if you can hear it anyways. I'm like super sensitive to sound, so I feel like anytime there's a sound, I need to explain it to anybody. OK, so let's talk about how overthinking shows up a little bit differently when we're experiencing anxiety. Compared to when we are feeling sad or depressed. So in anxiety, overthinking tends to be really future focused, more of the what if spiral, right?And so at least in my own experience, anxious overthinking tends to be really fast-paced. Like what about this?What about that?What about this?And very obsessive and oftentimes filled with a lot of worry about the future. And typically when we're experiencing anxious overthinking is the worst case scenarios, right?And so that's the again is the brain's way of preparing for potential threats, even when none of them exist, right?And so sometimes very real threats and problems and possibilities exist and our brain goes into the worst case scenario like a lot of people are having. Anxious overthinking around climate change or the state of the world, like that's very real and very alive for a lot of people, myself included. And so it's one of those things that we can begin to watch for, right?So endless what if questions like what if, what if I 00:20:39,1000 --> 00:20:41,680embarrass myself?What if this never works out?What if I never make it?What if no one ever, you knowFinds my website or whatever it is, right? Whatever it is for you. And so again, that's that's something to watch for. If you notice that you know you're overthinking simple decisions and you're you're crowdsourcing all of your decisions, you're going and asking 800 people before you make a decision because you're worried about making the wrong one, right?And so this is again very, very common. And then what about in social situations, right?Maybe it was a time when you spoke at an event or you went for a drink with somebody and you said something that they kind of responded to and you know, then you're overthinking about it. And The thing is, is that, you know, when they responded, maybe they were thinking about something totally different and that's why they made a face or whatever it is, right?We have no idea. So we also want to notice that when we're in these patterns of anxious overthinking, there tends to be that kind of frantic, restless energy of, Oh my goodness, I'm just so worried and like, oh, you know, and you can feel that in your body as well as notice that pattern. It often feels really urgent. It feels like it's out of your control, like it's trying to solve the problem. That's what I call anxiety OverDrive. It's that that go push more, do it, figure it out and that. That that very intense anticipatory energy. OK, so that's the what of spiral of the anxious 00:22:09,1000 --> 00:22:12,800overthinking. So it's similar in depression, but it's more past focused, right?It tends to be more of a what's called rumination. And so 00:22:19,1000 --> 00:22:22,280rumination is to go back and ponder, especially with an intense emotion. And so it tends to be. Slower. It tends to be very almost more focused on regret, self criticism, feeling hopeless, right. Going back and I can't believe I did that. Why did I do that?Oh my goodness, it's so stupid, you know. And instead of going forward, it tends to be going back, reliving past mistakes over and over and over and having those negative experiences over and over and over. And 00:22:55,1000 --> 00:22:57,720The thing is, is that your your mind doesn't know that you're. Just reviewing 00:22:59,1000 --> 00:23:01,1000it in your head, it thinks that you're 00:23:01,1000 --> 00:23:03,1000literally your body, your nervous system is experiencing it again, right. And so we talked about that mental rehearsing. And so you know, it's it's very common to go back and replay past mistakes. Why did I do this?I always mess things up. I'm no good at this. And having a really harsh, critical inner dialogue and. It's one of those things that's, you know, feeling very deeply and wanting to do your best and wanting to really show up fully and having very high standards for yourself that never are met. Or if you get anywhere close, it's like, OK, I did that. OK, what's next?You know?And it's this sense of almost, at least in my case, you know, I I noticed and I would say that there was a feeling of like. Even if I achieve the goal, almost a feeling of inadequacy of like, yeah, but I could have done it better. I should have done it faster. I should have done it this way. Or if you didn't achieve the goal, it was just proof that, you know, it was a fluke 00:24:01,1000 --> 00:24:03,760and you know, you're it's not going to happen or whatever and and it's never going to happen. And so that spiral, that negative, very intense, you know, and at times awful, like horrible and and things that I would never say, like never say to anyone else. But was just letting go on autopilot and repeat over and over. And so that's The thing is like learning these things, hearing these things, have compassion for yourself because again, it's hardwired behavior. And so it's really important to practice this level of non-judgmental self-awareness and recognition that, you know, this is just what your brain thinks it's supposed to do and it's doing to keep you alive. And so these hopeless thought patterns, you know, and feeling frustrated and feeling really defeated and feeling like it's never going to change and pulling away from people and feeling really drained, it's it can feel very exhausting. And it almost felt like it was just my destiny, you knowAnd so maybe you can relate to that and or maybe you can't, you know, and I know some people just can't relate to that if they don't experience depression. And so, you know, on the anxious side, it might just be completely different for you. But for me, luckily, you know, getting a little column A, column BI got a little both so I can speak to both sides of this coin. Worried about the future, regret about the past, I did it all right. And so the replay mode, being stuck in replay mode, but not getting anywhere except for deeper into the feeling. That's where I got right. And it it got, I felt even more hopeless cause then when you had a mistake or a fault, it would just be fuel for the fire. Right. Or if you're worried about something and you you make a mistake, same thing, right?It can cause even more like or if something goes well, it can cause that anxiety of OK, well, are you gonna be able to do it again?I don't know, probably. Maybe you just like were had a lucky day and Mercury was in retrograde and you know, all the stars were aligned and you finally got it and but it won't happen again, you know, and so. Again, I speak this to you because this was very real for me for a long time and so a lot of people, myself included, who experience. A&B or A&D, I guess I should say anxiety and depression, you know, at times it's it can be a really painful cycle, right?Pushing us into that fear of the future. Then we get tired, then we get overwhelmed and then we get, you know, feeling defeated or make a mistake and then it just we ruminate on the mistake and then worried that it's going to happen again. And so it's it's this cycle, you know, or maybe you're just on one side or the other and none of it's. None of it's any better than the other or none of it's wrong. It's again, it's just the wiring of the human brain. And so, and especially for those of us who have these challenges, there's more of a tendency for this to happen. So what can we do, right?How do we interrupt this pattern?Well, first and foremost, it's that non-judgmental self-awareness. It's becoming a witness to your thoughts. Where is your focus?What thoughts are you repeating 00:27:17,1000 --> 00:27:20,840over and over to yourself, right?And and when you catch yourself in those worried, anxious loops or those patterns of rumination and going back and beating yourself up again, is this thought hurting me or helping me?Is this gonna matter in a year?How is this making me 00:27:35,1000 --> 00:27:37,1000feel?Am I beating myself up or am I 00:27:37,1000 --> 00:27:40,400looking for a solution right?And so those are the questions to ask yourself, but it's. It's so important to, first and foremost, have this level of awareness, of recognition, and that compassionate curiosity that I you've probably heard 400 times from me already. If you've listened to at least one or two 00:27:55,1000 --> 00:27:58,640episodes, is that that's where it's so important for us to begin to witness these patterns and begin to see them just as such, that it's a learned behavioral pattern that you've practiced so much. that you might, and I did, associate this as part of your personality and who you are. But it's not. It's a pattern. It's a behavior. And when you learn to witness that and observe it with love and appreciation for the fact that it's part of your neural patterning and your your heart, you've been wired for this, you've practiced this, but it's not who you are. You are the awareness behind it. You are loving awareness. You are the witnessing consciousness that is observing that pattern. That's who you really are. You're a spiritual being having a human experience. And these are very human realities, right?This is wiring of the of 00:28:59,1000 --> 00:29:02,520the biology of survival, and this is the the biology of fear. And so it's so important to just look at it from that lens of oh, wow, OK, well. Yes, I might be have practiced this for a 00:29:14,1000 --> 00:29:17,600long time, but is it something I want to continue to practice?Do you want to continue to pattern that behavior?Are you grooving that pattern or that path deeper? Do you want to right?And this is the level of agency and decision of recognizing these patterns, learning this about yourself so that you can begin to carve out a different pattern you can begin to. Go a different way and make a different choice for yourself. But literally I'm not lying. This is for the many of us, like a moment to moment decision. I this is not like I'm going to 00:29:49,1000 --> 00:29:51,600be a different person now and then you just are there to a 00:29:53,1000 --> 00:29:56,200degree. Once you make a decision, things start to shift. But these neural patterns, these behaviors are wired in there. So you get to practice this. You get to practice this level of compassionate curiosity and non-judgmental self-awareness. Throughout the day. That's why we practice it in a very safe space on the yoga mat. And you're like, what am I doing now?Am I thinking?Am I breathing?Am I doing this? Because throughout the day, you got to keep asking yourself, what am I focusing on now?Oh, am I anxiously overthinking about what's happening in the future?Or am I beating myself up for a past mistake? Oh, there I go again. OK, come on back over here. We take a power pause. We reset your energy. We come back to that place of connection and commitment and decision and embodiment and power and presence that you truly are. That's who you truly are. You're not those patterns. You're not anxiety. You're not depression. They might be things that you experience, but they aren't who you are. No, no, that's not who you are. You are the witnessing presence behind 00:30:51,1000 --> 00:30:54,360all of those things. You are a powerful force that is the creator of your thoughts. You get to decide. When you notice yourself in those overthinking patterns, you get to decide, are you going to allow them to continue or are you going to interrupt the pattern? Take a power pause, get up, move your body, get into your body, shake, use one of the 11 tools inside the free mini book. Whatever it is, right?Whatever it is, what are you going to do? 00:31:24,1000 --> 00:31:26,560Are you going to allow it to continue because you're so addicted to?That feeling of defeat and sadness and worry and anxiety like I was for a long time. We we get addicted to that pattern. It becomes so familiar that we just practice it over and over. Even if we get really frustrated with them, we're like, why is this still happening?Because 00:31:43,1000 --> 00:31:45,600we're addicted to that neurochemical cocktail of stress and we just think it's who we are. But it's not. It's not. We get to shift it, but it's a moment to moment decision, right?It's we. We got to keep training the puppy. Who's the puppy?What's the puppy, Megan?I didn't know we were training a puppy. The puppy is your brain. The puppy is your focus. We got to keep bringing it back over here, right?Sit down, focus. Use one of the tools. Breathe, move, stretch. You know, do a brain dump. Do a heart dump. Ask yourself some thought-provoking questions. Whatever it is, right?Train the puppy. Because guaranteed 2 1/2 seconds later, when you're like, OK, the puppy's good, puppy's having a nap, you walk away, you look back and the puppy's like chewing on the leg of the table. Remember, the puppy is your brain. So we get to train your focus. Learn to take command of your mind and run your mind rather than having your mind run you because it will. And until we begin to make these shifts and change at the deepest level of our nervous system and rewire our system. To 00:32:45,1000 --> 00:32:47,1000be more embodied in that powerful 00:32:47,1000 --> 00:32:50,880presence of being in control of where your energy and your focus is, rather than having it just run amok and go back into the default patterns, which it will because these are stress responses. But we can begin to learn to witness those patterns, take a power pause, shift the patterns, create a new pattern for yourself. But it takes time. Right. It takes time. It took time for you to develop these patterns. Initially, it takes time for you to learn to stand on one foot and open your chest and not grip your face and grip your neck and do 800 other things while you're trying to do a yoga pose. It takes time. It's a practice. It's a practice of evolution. It's a practice of self discovery. It's a practice of growth. It's a practice of learning. It's a practice of you becoming even more authentically who you truly are. At the deepest level of your being, as you remember that you are not your thoughts. Oh, that was good. I feel like I could end there, but that might be an abrupt ending to the podcast. Yes. So I will tell you, you know, it's it's the most important work that we can do. And learning to catch yourself in these patterns and intentionally choose who and how you're showing up as who you're going to be in every moment. How are you going to walk on that proverbial stage of life each and every day? Your energy is a co-creating factor. The state of your nervous system impacts your thoughts and your emotions, your actions, your deeds, your results. So are you going to stay in that conditioned pattern or have you made the decision that you are more powerful than you give yourself credit for and you are going to choose a different way? 00:34:49,1000 --> 00:34:52,960That's your call, right?That is your call. So that is what I wanted to share with you today. I really hope that you found this insightful. I hope that you grab the Stop Anxious Overthinking mini book that is linked in the show notes. I know that these tools have literally transformed me at the deepest level of my 00:35:13,1000 --> 00:35:16,640being and shifted it so that that heavy cloak of sadness is not one that I wear very often anymore. And you know, there were many days where I wore the heavy cloak and on the inside felt like a tornado of anxiety. And that's a weird feeling to be both in a fight and a freeze almost simultaneously or kind of alternate back and forth. And it was exhausting and it was draining and it I feel like stole a lot of my joy and or I gave it a lot of my joy. I guess is probably more accurate, but yeah, probably more accurate. But that's OK. It's all part of the journey. And it helped me to learn and grow and get to where I am now and really is the driving fuel behind this work and this movement. Because so many of us navigate these challenges and there's, you know, for a long time, a lot of stigma and a lot of shame around 00:36:17,1000 --> 00:36:20,480mental health challenges. But the reality is, is that most people in their life will experience some flavor of that and. A lot of people, especially a lot of people that I know and that I work with in the entrepreneur community, is a very high prevalence of anxiety. There's a very high prevalence of depression. And so, you know, women are twice as likely to experience anxiety and even more consistently high functioning anxiety because of the demands placed on us and on a societal level. And so, yeah, it's real. These challenges are very real. They're wired into our biology, but that is 00:37:05,1000 --> 00:37:08,1000not your destiny. You can change 00:37:08,1000 --> 00:37:10,720that. You can shift that. And it's a practice, right?It's a practice of becoming. It's a practice of embodiment. It's a practice of intention. It's a practice of a willing commitment to yourself, of peeling away the layers that aren't you and truly allowing those. That true essence, the loving awareness that is your heart, that is your spirit to shine through and not be clouded by anxious overthinking or or depressive overthinking and all of these patterns, right. So I hope that this was really helpful for you. I hope that this was insightful if you know anybody that navigates these challenges or that you know you hear them. Kind of beating themselves up for things. Or you you hear them kind of looping about frustrations or disappointments or regrets. Send this episode to them, please, because I am willing to bet there will be at least one golden nugget in there for them. And I know that, you know, these tools have been so impactful, so transformative, so. Life changing for me to be able to share them feels like such a gift. And so I would love to know what landed for you. I would love to know what you know you're working with, what you're navigating. I would love any suggestions that you have for future episodes. I would love to hear what you think of the Stop Anxious Overthinking mini book because it is free 00:38:33,1000 --> 00:38:36,400and it's in the show notes. So grab it, grab it and I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing this. Podcast. I'm so excited that it is a it's growing every week. And so thank you for doing the downloads. Thank you for sharing it with your friends. Thank you for showing up and and sharing your heart with the world and however you are doing that in the world. And thank you for allowing me to be part of your week 00:39:01,1000 --> 00:39:04,480and have me in your ear, hopefully making you smile and giving you some hope and and reminding you that you're freaking amazing and like, I mean just. You are. You areAnd really just let that land for a minute. And you know, I know this life thing ain't easy sometimes. Believe me, I know that. And I know that it's really important to have people in your corner cheering you on. So just know I am. And I'm really proud of you for doing what you're doing. And I know that, you know, learning to do these things, learning to catch yourself in these patterns and and lovingly redirect. That's the work. That's the work. It's it's the work. It's the human. It's the human experience, my friend. So not making it wrong, not making it bad, not making it anything. 00:39:49,1000 --> 00:39:51,840It's just neutral. It's just how we're wired, right?And it's like kind of it's great that we're wired for survival and we don't have to, like, intentionally, you know, make that decision. But the decision that we get to make is, is this working for me?Do I want this to continue or not? Because that's where your level of agency 00:40:10,1000 --> 00:40:13,640and your power and your ability to reprogram your mind, literally rewire your mind, literally create new neural pathways in your brain. Literally practice something until you become it, because that's what you did and that's how you got here. But you get to choose the person that you're being, the level of being that you're at, the level of mind that you're operating from, and the, you know, essentially the frequency that you are emitting because of how you're feeling in your nervous system. So that impacts what's happening in your outer world, right?It starts from within. But if we have these these patterns that for many of us and for a long time, you know, I was like, I'm just, I'm just destined to be like this. I guess this is just how it ends. But no, neuroplasticity is a real thing. You can change your brain, you can change the patterns, you can update the operating system. That's how amazing you are. You are bad freaking ass man or human woman. Being you're badassOK, anyways, I'm well past my 20 minute timeline limit, but hopefully I'm still saying things of value. I need a snack. I love you a lot. I'm going to just sign off right there. Please let me know if this landed. If you are listening to this podcast and you smiled and you got some sort of nugget and you were 00:41:30,1000 --> 00:41:32,680like, hot damn, I need to start doing that, please send me a message. Please send me a message. It would literally mean the world to me. I would love to know that you're listening. Please, please, if you got a little bit of something out of this episode to say thank you to me, please just send me a message. I literally would love to hear it. I literally, I could like it might even make me cry. And if and I I'll take a photo and I'll send it to you to prove that your message touched me in the heart because. You know, sometimes you're recording podcasts and yes, there's people downloading it, but I'm like, are there people actually listening to this? Or am I just sitting here talking to my refrigerator?Cuz that's what I'm looking 00:42:05,1000 --> 00:42:07,800at behind the camera. Anyways, I really need to go now because now I'm just talking all sorts of crazy stuff. But I would really love to hear what landed for you. And on that note, gotta go. Love you. Bye.