Welcome to the latest episode of Wholesome Content, we'll be discussing Rumination aka Overthinking. When it comes to creating, overthinking can be a source of stress and anxiety or creative block, but there are strategies you can use to calm your mind and improve overall well-being. In this episode, we'll be focusing on five key tips:
1. Focus On What You Can Control
2. Trust Your Instincts
3. Surround Yourself with Affirmations
4. Move Your Body to Release Energy
5. Ground Yourself in the Present
Sit back, relax, and join me for an informative and inspiring episode on breaking up with overthinking.
Welcome to the latest episode of Wholesome Content, we'll be discussing Rumination aka Overthinking. When it comes to creating, overthinking can be a source of stress and anxiety or creative block, but there are strategies you can use to calm your mind and improve overall well-being. In this episode, we'll be focusing on five key tips:
1. Focus On What You Can Control
2. Trust Your Instincts
3. Surround Yourself with Affirmations
4. Move Your Body to Release Energy
5. Ground Yourself in the Present
Sit back, relax, and join me for an informative and inspiring episode on breaking up with overthinking.
Welcome to another episode of Wholesome Content. I'm your host, heaven Jones, this is the podcast where where we explore the creative process through the lens of mental health and wellness,
we all have our own creative process, and here at Wholesome Content we explore how mental health and wellness can . Enhance that process and make it a little bit easier,
before we get into this show, I just wanna ask how you doing? Y'all all right? Feel free to pause this episode and vent. Whatever you got going on, better days are ahead.
Personally, . This week my ego took a major hit. I'm currently. Looking for my next project. So I've been going on a bunch of interviews and the interview process can be very demoralizing. it's constantly like putting yourself on the chopping block for strangers and like having to prove why you're good enough.
can be a little defeating at times and , it can be hard to be optimistic, I consider myself a pretty optimistic person. But this week I just was not feeling it. I had one interview.
I was super confident that I was going to get it, I'm on the . Interview via Zoom and everything's going well. know, I'm big myself up
it's a bilingual position. I consider my Spanish like conversational I was confident in my abilities and so the . Interview's going great I'd say like 15 minutes in, , one of the guys.
starts speaking to me in Spanish and basically he g checked me and was asking me in Spanish, , how do you know Spanish ? Where's your family from in Mexico? What's your favorite Mexican food?
I did my best to sound super fluent. It was like the record scratched I was stuttering a bit because I just was thrown off by the way. The energy had just shifted . It was this long awkward pause for like 30 seconds after the conversation. It was so cringey,
sometimes I wish I could have a outer body experience so that I can experience myself from somebody else's point of view, so I could just laugh at all the dumb shit that'd be happening to me because this life is something else
for the rest of the day, I was overanalyzing and ruminating on my performance
according to the National Institute of Health Rumination is defined as engaging in a repetitive, negative thought process that loops continuously in the mind focuses on negative content, generally past and present, and results in emotional distress.
I'm not gonna lie, it took me a few days to get back to my optimistic self. It took a lot of self-reflection and reassurance through meditation and journal.
the day of the interview it felt really major, but like now that I'm a few days removed from it
it's not that big of a deal. , It might have been very embarrassing in the moment, but it's not gonna make or break who I am, and I'm gonna keep it pushing. you have to allow yourself to make mistakes, allow yourself to try things fail and come back to the drawing board
it would've been an amazing opportunity, but you know what?
You can't win 'em all. You can't do everything.
That's why I love saying things are always working out in my favor, and the more I say that ,, the easier it is when Inconveniences happen or when I think things aren't going my way, like, you know what?
Whatever is happening in my life needs to happen to get me to where, , God wants me to be. What's for me will always be for me. What's for you. Cannot miss. , you just gotta be looking out for it. Instead of overthinking, if you're aware in the present and looking out for your blessings, the easier it will be to, spot them acknowledge them and accept them into your life.
Overthinking is that associate that you mistake for a friend they . Bring up every angle of every situation that has ever happened in your life. Some good memories, but usually bad. And before you know it, you've spent hours lost in memories and you feel likeshit. I don't want her in my circle anymore
While self-reflecting, I realized I wasn't sad about the job , but the interview brought up feelings of unworthiness and self-doubt that kind of lingered for the rest of the week.
When it came to recording this episode, , I was getting imposter syndrome I was overthinking it and falling into that rabbit hole of , am I good enough?
overthinking, has become a part of my creative process and I wanna minimize it because we can overthink so much that it paralyzes us in fear and stops us from starting a project or even finishing a project.
I thought that once I premiered the podcast that these feelings would like go away, but the reality.
these feelings of fear and self-doubt and imposter syndrome are always gonna be there, but the more that we work through them , the easier it will be
When we're having a hard time it can make us feel uninspired. But what if we used our creations as a way to channel our feelings and understand ourselves better?
Take the time to go inward to have self-awareness , get lost in your thoughts when it's serving you. But when they start to take that negative self-doubt, fearful vibe. You need to cut it out, and these are some tips to help you in that process.
So the first tip is, , focusing on what you can control.
There's this infographic that I love it's a circle within a box, and in the circle it says, in my control, my self-talk, my energy, my words, who I follow on social media, my self-care, my boundaries, what I consume, my attitude, my work on self and out of my control, which is outside of the circle.
It says the past, the future algorithms, the media, other people's behaviors, and. And other people's opinions of me and that other people's opinions of me is a major, major, major, major thing for me. I've been held back from creating and sharing my creations with the world because I've been focused on other people's opinions of me, but it's like other people's opinions do not pay my bills.
You know, when I'm old and reminiscing on my life, I ain't gonna be thinking about what other people thought of me. The time of me, you know, harping and focusing on what other people think of me is over
I saw this video of Gary V speaking at a conference, if you don't know who Gary V is, he's this amazing public speaker, media company owner who's whole shtick is that, self-confidence unapologetically is how you create your best work
, Gary V said I'm paraphrasing here, but he. people will only do two things. They'll either like you or they won't. And that's so true. if they don't, who cares?
As long as you like you, that is what matters. As long as you like you and you not hurting nobody, you are good.
My favorite thing to do when I'm overthinking is to journal. and write down my feelings. Every time I journal, I start with, you know, what's on my mind? How am I feeling today? What do I need to hear? I just brain dump and just write out whatever's on my mind and just get it out on paper
so that it's not stuck in my head.
If it's something specific that you're ruminating on and overthinking, write down an action plan on how to address whatever is bothering you, and try to figure out one thing you can do today to kind of help you with that problem, and if it's out of your control.
Let it go
It's really important to just focus on what's in your control, how you talk to yourself, your energy, your words, you know, your self care, your boundaries, what you consume. your attitude about things. This week after I kind of bombed that interview,
my energy was terrible. All I could do was meditate and sleep. . Literally, that's all I wanted to do. I needed some self-reflection and stillness, and that's what I did.
I worked on my energy I worked on my words by just being silent and giving myself space to just. . I think part of what was making me feel bad is I was kind of falling into that wormhole of negative self-talk and like ruminating on, I should have said this and I could have said that and I should have said like this.
During my self-reflection, I had to check myself and mentally reverse the downward spiral.
That's the important thing about sitting with your emotions. I had to give myself time to reflect on everything that was upsetting me, why, and reassure myself that this was only a temporary setback. Minor setback for a major comeback. I know a more aligned opportunity is on the way to me.
Everything is going to work out in my favor. I just need to trust the process and divine timing.
, life is about trying and reworking, trying and reworking.
and we have to give ourselves the space to be flawed and to make mistakes, but also keep in mind it's all part of our journey on the way to figuring this life thing.
We're all spiritual beings having human experiences.
Another tip is to trust your instincts.
Trust that whatever
you wanna share with the world is needed, your perspective is valuable. Someone out there needs your art, it needs your perspective.
Be who you need. Be the energy that you'd like to attract, be the energy that you need in your life.
Trust that whatever you're creating. it is beautiful. And feel it embody it. Rework until that's the feeling you're creating with, creating is. . A way of expressing ourselves. know, You shouldn't put yourself in a box that you should be creating a certain way or a certain thing. Just like let it all flow out and hold space for comes out, whether it's in your music on your canvas.
allow yourself to try things, make bad art. give yourself the space to just be and trust that you will figure it out.
I'm currently reading the Light We Carry by Michelle Obama, I highlighted in a recent chapter, this quote, she says, we only hurt ourselves when we hide our realness.
That is so real. I have this intense fear of
sounding stupid, and it's held me back. from sharing my full self but the crazy thing is my whole ethos of creating is to share myself through my art. , I'm holding myself back by overanalyzing and overthinking things. Out of the fear of looking stupid. And it's like, you know what? If me being my authentic self seems stupid to people, then that's their prerogative. That's their opinion. But that has nothing to do with me, and they will.
reach me unless they comment and then I could delete it. So it's whatever.
I only wanna show up as my authentic self. And the girls that get it, get it. And the ones that don't, too bad.
The third tip is to build your self-confidence by surrounding yourself with affirmations.
Affirmations come in all form.
Words of affirmations, Write out a list of affirmations and mantras to say to yourself to keep you motivated and remind you of your power ,
affirmations, Can also be your space, your home decor, you can hang inspirational art
In my house, I have a Basquiat that I love of jazz musicians I feel like Basquiat was the kind of artist. Channeled himself through his art and was so distinctly himself
that it . Inspires me to be . Myself and to put myself in my art.
I also have a poster of Bob Marley in my bedroom, and whenever, I wake up anxious, it reminds me, of the three little birds, don't worry about a thing cuz every little thing is gonna be all right. I love repeating that to myself whenever I see. ,
Listen to motivational music. I love listening to Erica Badu whenever I'm feeling any type of way, bag lady always gets me together when I'm holding onto energy that doesn't belong to me.
Tyler, the creators call me if you get lost, is very, , affirming. He talks a lot about not caring what other people think and how people used to hate on him and. , Tyler , the creator is so much his own person. You know, sometimes people don't see the vision and that's why you can't even care about what they are talking about. You know, everybody has their own vision for what their art is gonna be.
In your unique vision and perspective is what you need to use to create, that's your gift to share with the world. . So don't let the fear of what people say, stop you from doing your thing, because that is your purpose, to share your p o v. Like share your experiences.
One of my favorite quotes by Virgil Ablo Everything I do is for the 17 year old version of myself believing deeply in the power of art to inspire future generations.
Who knows? You know your art can plant a seed in somebody else who is gonna go on to do amazing things. and what happens if you never created that?
You gotta trust yourself.
Affirming yourself on a daily, inspiring yourself on a daily, creating an environment where you are inspired is gonna be key.
To help you keep going in those moments when you are lost in your thoughts or stuck, in a creative rut.
Another tip when you're overthinking do some kind of movement like yoga or dance it out. You know, get your energy out, get your feelings out. stretching is a great way to release emotions and just recenter your mind.
They say we hold a lot of our emotions, in our hips, in yoga, when you do a lot of hip opening exercises, you're releasing energy.
that's trapped inside, that energy could be blocking you
from taking those next steps Let it go for today. Give yourself the permission to just let it go.
My last tip is to ground yourself in the present.
Grounding yourself is when you stay connected to the present instead of getting lost in anxiety and reviewing a made up version of reality in your head. Grounding allows you to experience the moment you are in. It requires being connected to yourself and provides stability and calm, even in challenging situations.
You can ground yourself, you know, by cooking a meal, lighting a candle with a good scent, and just embracing the. Reading a book, meditation has been my saving grace lately,
when you find. with the repeating loop of thoughts . Seek out a quiet space. Sit down, breathe deeply, and focus on nothing but breathing. focusing on deep belly inhales and slow exhales, inhaling lots of love in and letting go of my worries with every exhale.
One of my favorite ways to meditate is to lay on my couch and just imagine I'm being surrounded by a warm yellow light and just let my body feel it and breathe in and out and clear my mind by just focusing on my breath and the warmth feeling.
I . Love meditation because it's essentially focusing on something to calm your breath you can meditate by simply sitting and focusing on inhaling and exhaling, or you can meditate while listening to a guided meditation and focusing on what's being said.
Meditation is one of those things that anybody can do it all walks of life. It's free. You don't need to pay for any subscription service or anything. You don't even need to listen to anybody else. You can tap into your inner voice and meditate. .
When you're overthinking It can be hard to. , calm your mind and not focus on anything. So I love to meditate after I've exercised or taken a walk or did some sort of movement, like a yoga sequence.
After movement, the energy in your body is flowing and the mind tends to be settled.
Next time you're overthinking, move your body. Shower with all your favorite vibes, the music incense, , your favorite soap and lotion. Then sit or lay in a comfortable position, Then meditate, Ground your body, mind, and spirit and gratitude for this life and the present moment. One thing about life, it can be so unpredictable. Things can go in a million different ways, I feel like every time I get used to life being a certain way, things change. So I'd rather spend my time cherishing the present
So Instead of rehearsing the past and worrying about the future,
even if the present moment doesn't feel good, this too shall pass. Better days are ahead,
I wanna end this episode with some affirmations
for you to think about the next time you're overthinking or you need a pick. I am a force. I am powerful. I can do anything I put my mind to. I am walking in my purpose on the right path. Whenever I follow what feels good,
there's no need to worry or overthink. The right answer is in the present.
Everything is working out in my favor. I just need to trust the process and divine timing.
I release all behaviors that don't support my success. Peace, joy, and happy.
Everything I need is within me. I can create my own abundance by being disciplined about putting myself out there.
I am special worthy, articulate, reliable, trustworthy, and compassionate. I'm a light in a stranger's.
I am love. I am kindness. I am abundance whenever I choose to be.
Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Wholesome Content I just want you to know that you are special as the great Lizzo said, you are good enough and the world needs artists like you.