Do You Overthink at Night? Try This
Instead of morning pages, try evening pages
Whether you’re going through a stressful season of life or are a chronic overthinker, tackle your thoughts with evening pages.
Why do we overthink at night?
Our brain has over 6,000 thoughts per day. And 95% of those thoughts are the same as the previous day. If we discussed these repetitive thoughts with another human every day, they would think we’re crazy. So instead, we keep them in our head where they are free to take over.
Give your mind an outlet
If you are not familiar with the popular journaling trend referred to as ‘Morning Pages,’ the basic concept is that you write “stream of consciousness” style for a certain amount of time in the morning before the day gets going. You write absolutely anything that is going on in that noggin of yours down to the slightest annoying thought.
You didn’t like the way Pam looked at you yesterday? Do you keep thinking about it even though you know it doesn’t matter? Write it down. Do you hate your job? Write it down. Are you frustrated with your spouse? Write it down.
Letting go of old thoughts prevents us from ruminating on them, allowing room for newer, (hopefully) better thoughts.
My experience
I recently became desperate to get rid of the overwhelming thoughts running through my mind after breaking up with a man I was living with. A few months later, I moved into a new house where it really set in that I was alone for the first time in several years. I was filled with so much anxiety and had no one to talk to about it in my new empty house.
I tried morning pages years before, but noticed I did not have much to say in the morning since it was a fresh, new day and my mind becomes more settled after getting some sleep. Most of my ruminating occurs at the end of the day, specifically right before bed.
Realistically, I wasn’t going to text my friends and family every night about how anxious I was. People wanted to know how I was doing, sure. But I knew no one wanted to constantly hear about my hundreds of inner thoughts each night.
Keeping these thoughts to myself was significantly affecting my sleep and overall wellbeing, so I bought a small notebook and started keeping it on my bedside table with a pen. Each night when I am ready to fall asleep, I write in my notebook first.
I start by writing my mental to-do list — any tasks I need to complete the next day or during the week. Then I write about any nagging or repetitive thoughts from that day.
Other common themes are my self-esteem, life goals, how I ate that day, how annoyed I am that Rachel hasn’t responded to my email yet, etc. My thoughts can be deep or insanely superficial. But no matter how seemingly insignificant, I write it down so it’s out of my mind.
It may feel embarrassing at first because we don’t want to admit trivial things bother us, but we’re human and no one is going to read our notebook except us. Writing our thoughts on paper may also look messy and disorganized since many topics will be unrelated. It’s just a brain dump, no one is winning any writing awards here.
It is also important to note that writing our thoughts down doesn’t make them true. In fact, it often makes it easier to recognize how distorted some thoughts can be — all the more reason not to allow them to sit around in your head.
When I first started, I would write pages and pages. Now I write a page or two on average. It will change over time, but it’s the only thing that helped me fall asleep at night and mentally process stressful events in a healthy way.
In the morning, I transfer the messy version of my to-do list from my evening pages to my more organized planner and move on with my day after a good night’s rest.
Did this article help you? Comment about your experience!
