Why Overthinking Drains Your Energy (and What to Do About It)
If you’re someone who can’t stop replaying conversations, predicting every possible outcome, or analyzing decisions from every angle — you’re not alone.
For high-achieving women anxiety, overthinking often feels like a form of control. You believe that if you can think through everything, you’ll be able to feel calm and live with uncertainty. But instead, overthinking leaves you feeling exhausted, restless, and mentally drained — with very little clarity or peace.
Let’s talk about why overthinking takes such a toll on your energy, and how can you finally break free from it?
The Mental Load of Overthinking
When your brain is constantly on and working so hard, it burns an incredible amount of energy.
Every “what if,” every replayed conversation, every moment of second-guessing is like opening dozens of browser tabs in your mind — all running at once.
This mental overdrive triggers the body’s stress response system, keeping you in a chronic state of alertness and arousal. Cortisol levels stay elevated, your nervous system doesn’t fully relax, and your mind doesn’t get the rest it needs to reset and recover.
You might notice symptoms like —
→ Feeling mentally foggy even after a full night’s sleep
→ Trouble focusing or making decisions
→ Constant fatigue, despite doing “less” physically
→ Tension headaches, tight shoulders, or jaw clenching
Just to name a few. Your brain isn’t just tired — it’s overloaded.
The Emotional Toll: The Illusion of Control
Overthinking gives the illusion of safety and preparedness. It actually tricks your mind into believing that if you think hard enough, you can prevent bad outcomes and avoid mistakes or catastrophes. But what it really does is keep you trapped in cycle of anxiety.
This cycle erodes confidence and emotional energy because you’re wiring your mind to constantly scan for danger that doesn’t exist. You start to mistrust your intuition, delay decisions, and feel paralyzed by fear.
Overthinking doesn’t really protect you. It disconnects you — from peace, from clarity, from resilience and problem solving in order to take action.
Why It Feels So Hard to Stop
If you’ve lived most of your life succeeding through hard work, perfectionism, and preparedness, your brain has learned that thinking more = performing better.
That wiring runs deep.
So when you try to “just stop overthinking,” your brain panics. It thinks you’re being careless or unproductive.
This is why stopping overthinking isn’t about forcing your mind to go quiet — it’s about training your nervous system to feel safe in stillness and getting comfortable tolerating uncertainty and learning how to have more trust and faith.
How to Break the Cycle and Get Your Energy Back
Here’s how to begin shifting out of the overthinking loop and back into clarity, calm, and a more present state:
01. Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Body
This is a major focus area I work on with my clients. Overthinking lives in the mind, and you can start to connect to your body again.
To get practice this, try grounding techniques —
↳ Deep belly breathing (inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8) – try this for about 3 minutes.
↳ Stretching or light movement or talking a walk
↳ Putting a hand over your heart and noticing your breath
These can help signal safety to your nervous system, telling your brain it’s okay to feel more aware of your body sensations.
02. Label your thoughts — don’t live in them
When you catch yourself spiraling, say to yourself:
“I’m having catastrophic thoughts, or worried thoughts that…”
This simple shift creates space between you and your thoughts. It’s mindfulness in action — helping you observe and describe instead of identify with your worries
03. Set a “Worry Window”
Schedule a 10-minute block in your day to jot down your worries.
When anxious thoughts or overthinking shows up outside that window, remind yourself:
“I’ll think about this during my worry time.”
This helps your brain learn boundaries and stops intrusive thoughts from hijacking your whole day.
04. Strengthen Self-Trust
Identify small decisions you can start making that will help you build trust. Every time you make a decision and move forward without endlessly analyzing, you’re teaching your brain that you can trust yourself and that peace doesn’t require overthinking.
05. Prioritize Rest Like a Non-Negotiable
Mental and emotional rest isn’t optional when you’re recovering from chronic overthinking or high functioning anxiety.
Create moments in your day — even five minutes — to pause, breathe, and do nothing.
Remember: Rest is productive. It’s how your brain recharges and restores focus. And start to think about what that may look like in bigger chunks of time so you’re really start to integrate it into your life.
Overthinking doesn’t mean you’re broken or weak. It’s a protective pattern — one your brain created to keep you safe. But safety doesn’t come from thinking harder or thinking more. It comes from learning how to feel safe without needing to control everything.
When you start calming your body, learning how to separate from your thoughts and allowing yourself to tolerate uncertainty, you start to reclaim that energy and confidence that overthinking has been draining for years.
If This Resonates…
You don’t have to do this alone.
I help high-achieving women who struggle with overthinking, self-doubt, and high functioning anxiety learn how to regulate their emotions, rebuild confidence, and live with more calm and clarity.
Book a free consultation and learn how we can work together.
→ Complimentary Coaching Consult (open worldwide)
→ Complimentary Therapy Consult (must reside in FL or CT)