Pause Before You Panic
Ever walk into a room and instantly your brain starts running a full-on highlight reel of everything that could go wrong? Yeah, me too. Here’s a tiny tip: give yourself a teeny tiny pause.
I’m talking 3 seconds. Count to three (if you are feeling wild, you could even count backwards) and just literally take one deep breath innnnnnn and then ouuttttt before you react, text, or overthink what just happened.
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Why this actually helps
When your brain starts going, it goes fast. It grabs onto something small and builds a whole story around it before you’ve even had a second to check in with yourself.
That little pause interrupts the whole thing. It gives you a second to come back into your body instead of getting dragged around by every thought. And to be clear, you’re not trying to get rid of the thoughts (cos thoughts do just pop in), however, you’re just not immediately believing every single one.
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It won’t feel natural at first
You might try this and be like… okay that did absolutely nothing. Thanks so much for that nothing burger. Or forget to do it until you’re already deep in it. That’s normal. Your brain is used to reacting right away. This is you doing something different. It takes a bit of practice before it starts to click. This is not about catching every single thought or never overthinking again. That’s not the goal!! The goal is just to create a tiny bit of space. Even one small pause in your day counts.
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When to use it
Use this when you catch yourself about to go into overthinking mode. After a conversation. When you’re rereading a text. When you feel that little feeling in your body like “uh oh here we go.”
Even if you only remember after the fact, still do it. Three seconds. One deep breath in and out. Come back to the present.
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What you might start to notice
Things don’t stick the same way. You’re not replaying something for hours. You catch it earlier. You move on a little quicker.
Try it the next time you catch yourself obsessing over a comment, a photo, or that weird energy from someone in the grocery store. Three seconds. Breath. You might just surprise yourself with how much lighter you feel!!!