Pressing Pause Podcast Episode 1 – Welcome to Pressing Pause

Music

Welcome to Pressing Pause, the podcast for overthinkers.

I’m Gabrielle Treanor and I’m a writer and teacher specialising in overthinking and overworrying. Here I share with you ideas, inspiration and actions to empower you to spend less time overthinking and worrying and more time enjoying your life.

Music

Hello and welcome to the very first episode of Pressing Pause, the podcast for overthinkers. I’m so pleased you’re joining me, thank you.

So, I thought it would be a good idea to start off the podcast by making this first episode an introduction to who my work and this podcast is for – overthinkers and overworriers. Put simply, overthinking is when you get lost in your head, going over and over thoughts, without really getting anywhere with them. It’s hard to pull your attention away from what you’re ruminating about and as you keep going over the same thoughts they can become more and more worrisome. You feel stuck in this cycle, trying to come up with a solution, trying to think how differently things could have turned out, trying to prepare yourself for any number of imagined scenarios.

Let me give you an example.

So, you text a friend and she doesn’t reply back as soon as you expect her to. First you wonder if she got the text and you double check it’s marked as sent. When there’s still no reply you re-read your text to check that there’s a question or something in there that suggests you’d expect a response. You wait a while longer and still, silence.

So you re-read your text again to see if there’s anything you wrote that your friend could take the wrong way or be annoyed with you about. And you wait.

All the while you’re getting on with your life, going about your usual business, but you keep coming back to wondering why your friend hasn’t replied. It’s not like her. Did you do or say something wrong some other time? Did you upset her and you didn’t know?

Perhaps you feel annoyed that she hasn’t replied. It doesn’t take long to send a quick text, now you’re thinking she’s rude to ignore you. Unless something awful’s happened and that’s why she hasn’t replied?

This is overthinking. This is getting stuck in a loop going over and over the same thoughts without getting anywhere and in the process worrying about things that you’re imagining, that you know nothing about, that may never happen. Overthinking takes you away from reality, from your own life, from what’s going on around you. Overworrying takes away your joy and replaces it with tension and stress.

Okay, so, let me give you another example.

You’re watching a film at the cinema, it’s one that you’ve been looking forward to seeing for ages and it’s had loads of five star reviews.

And it’s great, but you keep losing the thread because your mind keeps wandering off. You can’t shake that feeling that your boss meant something else in that remark she made at the end of the meeting. You thought you did an okay presentation and you answered all the questions but what if she didn’t think so? What if she thinks you did a bad job?

And then you’re back to the movie.

Hmm, did you lock the car? You meant to, but did you actually lock the car? What if you didn’t and it gets stolen? How will you get home, what will you tell the insurance company? What if they won’t pay out? Then what will you do?

Okay, focus on the movie.

You should have put a wash on before you left the house. The kids’ uniform will have to be worn yet another day. Great mum you are, not. You’ve no idea what you’ll wear tomorrow. You meant to phone back Mum. You really should have phoned her back. You’d better do that first thing tomorrow. What are you going to cook for dinner tomorrow? What did your boss really mean? Did you lock the car?

And so it goes on, this stream of thoughts running through your brain at 100 miles per hour, using up your attention and your energy and distracting you from what’s actually happening right now, in this moment. In this example, it’s the film that you’ve been looking forward to watching and that you’re only half seeing because you’re spending so much time in your head.

Watching this film is a source of joy and because of overthinking and overworrying you’re missing out.

This is just one example but it could apply to a million different situations.

This is what spending time lost in thoughts in your head does, it removes you from what’s really going on in your life, from all the things that make life interesting and quirky and challenging and funny and joyful.

In these podcast episodes I’m going to share with you a range of ideas, techniques, practices and actions that will empower you to spend less time in your head, lost in thought and worry, and more time in your life, enjoying it as it is right now.

So when you’re with your family or friends you can really be there with them, not going over a conversation from yesterday or imagining what’s yet to happen tomorrow.

So that you’re better able to keep things in perspective, give them due consideration but, crucially, not get lost in going over and over the same thoughts.

So that you can build your resilience and ability to deal with life’s curveballs so when things get tricky and challenging, which they will do, that’s just life, you’re better equipped to cope without feeling crushed.

By pressing pause you’ll discover how to take better care of yourself and by doing so be in a better position to care for those around you.

And, ultimately in this podcast we’ll explore how you can spend less time overthinking and more time enjoying your one, valuable, precious life.

Thank you for joining me for Pressing Pause, the podcast for overthinkers. You can find the show notes and other episodes at gabrielletreanor.com/podcast

You can also find lots more to empower you to overthink and worry less and enjoy your life more, including the Nook of Inspiration free resource library and the range of online courses, at gabrielletreanor.com.

And if you’re on Instagram come say hi to me, I’m @gabrielletreanor.

Thanks again for listening, until next time, lovely people.

Music