It's Analysis Paralysis
The other day I was having a conversation with someone about how many of us tend to over think every little thing. My husband popped up with "It's Analysis Paralysis". I thought it was very clever at the time and I haven't been able to get it off my mind. Over thinking things and trying to figure out the why of a persons behavior can really paralyze us.
I think "letting it go" is the exact attitude we need to adopt when we find ourselves with "Analysis Paralysis". With age, I've gotten pretty good at letting things go, but not until after I've done a little analyzing first. I doubt I'll ever totally stop over thinking but it's very helpful to be able to control it enough that it doesn't consume too much of my time and energy.
Allowing stressful thoughts to keep us awake at night is easy to do. After we recognize what we're doing and learn how to stop the "Analysis Paralysis", we'll sleep much better. We may also get a lot more enjoyment from our daily lives when we are getting a good night's sleep. We all have to think about something, but analyzing our behavior or someone else's really needs to be limited so that it doesn't take over our lives and sink us into a worse state of depression or anxiety.
I think "letting it go" is the exact attitude we need to adopt when we find ourselves with "Analysis Paralysis". With age, I've gotten pretty good at letting things go, but not until after I've done a little analyzing first. I doubt I'll ever totally stop over thinking but it's very helpful to be able to control it enough that it doesn't consume too much of my time and energy.
Allowing stressful thoughts to keep us awake at night is easy to do. After we recognize what we're doing and learn how to stop the "Analysis Paralysis", we'll sleep much better. We may also get a lot more enjoyment from our daily lives when we are getting a good night's sleep. We all have to think about something, but analyzing our behavior or someone else's really needs to be limited so that it doesn't take over our lives and sink us into a worse state of depression or anxiety.
Posted by ozzieblackcat at 8/12/2010 2:50 PM 
Categories: family, depression, anxiety, relationships, mental health
Tags: ozzieblackcat depression blog his and hers mental health
Categories: family, depression, anxiety, relationships, mental health
Tags: ozzieblackcat depression blog his and hers mental health
Its true, you can easily spend way too much time over thinking every little action you have taken, or plan to take, and then end up not taking any action.
The worst thing for me is not sleeeping at night. Its not as if you can get up and start doing anything constructive at that time either, is it?
Everyone else is asleep, and if you make too much noise about it you wake them all up.
So dont over think things, just get on with them and see what happens, its better than doing nothing!
Reply to this
Oh my god, I know about this thing you call analysis paralysis. This keeps me up all night every night. And you're totally right that if we stop analyzing things so much, we'll be able to sleep. I am a pro at staying stuck on thoughts and analyzing others' behavior as well as my own. The hardest thing for me is letting go. It feels so comforting to just think about something until I come to a conclusion, no matter how long it takes me. Aside from recognizing the fact that I'm over analyzing, what do you think the trick is to avoiding this kind of behavior? It's not so easy to stop cold turkey.
my blog My Black and White World (depression from a young woman's perspective)
http://mybandwworld.blogspot.com/
--struggling girl
Reply to this
Your right its best at times to let it go.. Thanks for sharing this with us. Want to invite you to visit my blogs soon I always look for your visits still want to reach our goals. I will always support you here. Hugs Lilyruth
Reply to this
Walking at the park will help you release the stress. It works on me.
Reply to this
I think Yoga & Meditation can help a lot! I also faced similar situations way back and yoga helped me out.. just my two cents...
Reply to this
This blog was so good. It was a busy hot time and I didn't comment, but it was perfect in every way--just the right
length, etc. It didn't need another word. I just benefited from it and every time I would start to reanalyze
things, I would just say "Analysis
Paralysis" and it helped me to get the
troublesome thoughts out of my mind so
that I could just move on!
Reply to this
Thank you. I'm really glad you like this blog post and found it helpful. Now, if I can remember my own suggestions.
Reply to this
Great post, as usual! I am personally enthralled by oral histories, and they can really enrich a story, but that does not make them true. I have encountered this repeatedly in my family genealogy research. You know, the stories about great-uncle so-and-so, who was caught in a fence and froze to death.
Reply to this
This is a very good article you wrote I enjoyed reading it. I also wanted to congraulate you in the award you got for Top Depression Blog Wow what an honor Im so happy for you and proud also. You deserve it you work so hard on your blog and bring so much insight to us about depression. I anted to let you know Im still with you always and will be and I want to invite you again to stop by my blogs and continue to give me your support I always need it and also I wanted to thank you for being such a good and kind hearted and special friend to me. Hugs I shall continue to help you reach your goal. Lilyruth
Reply to this
Congratulations on your award Im so happy for you . You deserved it. Do stop by soon and visit my blogs I read several articles here and enjoyed them.
Reply to this
Every bit of that article is enjoyable. All basic info included here.Thanks for sharing it.....
Reply to this
Great advice. Over-thinking can cause us to not do anything at all. Often we have to think about things in a reasonable amount of time, then do the best we can and hope for the best.
Reply to this