29 Uplifting Quotes To Help You Stop Overthinking

Have you ever found yourself mulling over a task or problem so much that it becomes much harder than it should be?

Maybe you stew for hours over something someone said to you and then find yourself feeling angry and agitated. 

If this sounds familiar, I've put together a list of overthinking quotes to help you find relief.

You can use these overthinker quotes will remind you of this bad habit and how to direct your mental energy in other, more productive ways.

Understanding Overthinking

Overthinking means your mind has locked onto a topic (quite often something negative), and it won't let go. You feel stuck in your head, going over and over a situation without taking any real action on it. 

It consumes your energy and decreases your ability to make decisions. It also increases your likelihood of experiencing anxiety and worries over the task at hand. 

We also overthink in an attempt to change the past or control the future — both of which are futile. Rumination about the past and the future morphs into feelings of regret, shame, guilt, worry, and distress.

When you don’t allow yourself to ponder too much, you are more efficient, have more inner peace, and you are likely to be happier.

It took me a while to realize that overthinking was directly related to negative moods and impacting the quality of my day.

People often ruminate on issues that are unsolvable. So while we may feel like we are taking some kind of action, the truth is that we don't overthink something when it can be solved — we just solve the issue.

Overthinking can become a bad habit that can cause you emotional suffering and steal your joy. You need to catch yourself in this habit and do the work to redirect your thoughts to something more positive.

If you need some inspiration to curtail this bad habit, please read on!

29 Uplifting Overthinking Quotes

Overthinking Quotes To Help You Relax

If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry.

— the Dalai Lama

Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, “What else could this mean?

— Shannon L. Alder

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

Overthinking is parasitic. It’s viral. It’s deadly, even. Letting yourself fall victim to overthinking doesn’t just kill your happiness, it destroys who you are. The mind is a beautiful and complex thing, and the only person who can hurt it is yourself.

— Genereux Philip

The more you rationalize, the more you move farther away from your authentic self.

–Shannon L. Alder

Thinking too much leads to paralysis by analysis. It's important to think things through, but many use thinking as a means of avoiding action.

–Robert Herjavek

Overthinking, also, best known as creating problems that are never there.

–David Sikhosana

Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.

— Clement Stone

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

— Albert Einstein

Half our mistakes in life arise from feeling where we ought to think, and thinking where we ought to feel.

— John Collins

Overthinking Quotes To Calm You at Night

I think and think and think, I‘ve thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it.

— Jonathan Safran Foer

Stop worrying about what tomorrow may bring. Focus on what you can control. Stay positive. Enjoy today. Expect good things to come.

— Karen Salmansohn

Although I have no idea what tomorrow may bring, I am going to think positively and hope for the best.

— Karen Salmansohn

Put your thoughts to sleep. Do not let them cast a shadow over the moon of your heart. Let go of thinking.

— Rumi

It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterward.

— Baltasar Gracian

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.

— Dale Carnegie

There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.

— Homer

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.

— Les Brown

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

— Emerson

Overthinking Quotes About Relationships

The axe forgets; the tree remembers.

— African Proverb

Forgive the past. It is over. Learn from it and let go. People are constantly changing and growing. Do not cling to a limited, disconnected, negative image of a person in the past. See that person now. Your relationship is always alive and changing.

— Brian L. Weiss

Relationships are mysterious. We doubt the positive qualities in others, seldom the negative. You will say to your partner: do you really love me? Are you sure you love me? You will ask this a dozen times and drive the person nuts. But you never ask: are you really mad at me? Are you sure you’re angry? When someone is angry, you don’t doubt it for a moment. Yet the reverse should be true. We should doubt the negative in life, and have faith in the positive.

— Christopher Pike

Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?

— Mary Manin Morrissey

Sometimes, you overthink things so much that you ruin something before it even begins, then you beat yourself up, replaying everything to your friends and in your mind.
— Kirsten Corley

Overthinking ruins friendships and relationships. Overthinking creates problems you never had. Don't overthink, just overflow with good vibes.

— Anonymous

Don't think. It complicates things. Just feel, and if it feels like home, then follow its path.

— R.M. Drake

You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks and months over thinking the past. Trying to put together pieces, imagining what could've been, should've been or would've been. Or you can pick up the pieces off the floor and move on as a stronger, smarter person.

— Nicolas Sparks

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I’m tired of being inside my head. I want to live out here, with you.

— Colleen McCarty

The more I think about it, the more I realize that overthinking isn't the real problem. The real problem is that we don't trust.

— L.J. Vanier

Tips for Using These Stop Overthinking Quotes

If you find yourself overthinking things in your life, remember some of these quotes and find ways to make them work for you.

• Keep them on hand so you can refer to them when you need some inspiration to move on with your best life.

• Write down a few of your favorites and read them out loud to yourself.

• Write them on sticky notes, and put them around the house where you'll see them.

• Have one printed on a coffee mug to remind you to stop overthinking every morning.

In addition to using these quotes, here are some tips to help you curb your overthinking addiction:

• Wear a rubberband on your arm, and pop it gently when you catch yourself ruminating.

• Make a point to replace negative thoughts with thoughts of gratitude.

• Ask yourself if there are any actions you can take to reduce your worries or fears.

• Take the actions.

• Find ways to distract yourself when you fall into the overthinking trap.

• Practice recognizing and accepting those things you cannot change so you can let them go.

Putting an end to rumination, second-guessing yourself, and making negative predictions is much easier said than done. You can't just say, “Don't think about it too much,” and expect your mind to immediately accommodate.

However, if you practice this consistently, you will learn how to limit your catastrophic thinking patterns and develop a happier and more peaceful mindset.