Stop Overthinking: 23 Techniques to Relieve Stress, Stop Negative Spirals, Declutter Your Mind, and Focus on the Present (The Path to Calm Book 1)

by Nick Trenton

Clutter, be it at home or work, is generally a significant cause of anxiety because it subconsciously acts as a reflection of yourself.

The ancient Stoics understood these principles well, with Epictetus saying, “Just keep in mind: the more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.” We have power over our minds, not outside events. So, if we continue to focus on outside events that we don’t have power over, the conclusion is obvious—we repeatedly experience powerlessness and therefore anxiety.

Stress and worry can be channeled into planning and innovation. The best inventors often arrive at amazing ideas precisely because their original plans failed. But when you focus on the failure and not the new possibilities suggested by this failure, you place stress on yourself needlessly.

Anxiety always lives elsewhere. It lingers around in the past, worrying about what has already happened (i.e., is out of your control, see attitude 1), or floats uselessly into the future, imagining a million stressful possibilities. But conscious awareness and useful action don’t belong elsewhere: they live in the present.