From Mind Full to Mindful: How To Stop Overthinking About Overthinking
You’re Not “In Your Head” - You’re Trapped There. Here’s How to Get Out.
Right now your brain is like an overworked intern. Sprinting between tasks, juggling competing and often contrasting priorities coming from extremely ambiguously defined lines of authority, including some who you’re 99% sure aren’t even part of your team, and dealing with lingering existential crises about whether you’ve tested whether your colleagues are happy to push the PC boundaries way…way too early… You might tell yourself to chill out, but let’s be frank, that’s like telling a cat to enjoy bath time.
We have perfected the art of overthinking. We marinate in our thoughts. We turn one awkward interaction into a 12-part docuseries playing on loop at 2 a.m. (working title: Why Did I Say That?). The irony? The more we tell ourselves to stop spiraling, the deeper we go.
The good news? Science says there’s a way out - and it doesn’t involve another self-help TikTok or questionably coloured juice. Yep, it’s Nature. And here’s why it works:
Why Your Brain Feels Like a Tab Hoarder
You’re sleeping well. You eat well. You exercise, mostly. And you’re on top of meditation and all that stuff…so why does your brain always feel like you’re trying to download a 1080p movie on dial-up?
Let’s put it this way. If you left anything on…all the time…without switching it off…ever, how do you think it’d be performing right about now?
Some science to back that up? Sure: Proposed by environmental psychologists Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, Attention Restoration Theory (ART) suggests that we have two types of attention:
Directed Attention – What you use when working, reading emails, or trying not to scream during a group chat debate about what date works for the next group catch-up.
Soft Fascination – A relaxed state where your mind wanders, refuels, and stops treating every minor inconvenience like you’re in the series finale of Glee but just realised you can’t actually sing.
Here’s the problem: modern life is a circus of overstimulation. Constant scrolling, 24/7 notifications, and trying to remember 14 passwords all with minor variations of your first pet’s name and bday? That’s all directed attention. No wonder we’re mentally fried.
Nature, on the other hand, effortlessly engages soft fascination. Watching trees sway, hearing waves crash, or even just staring at the sky activates a passive, restorative form of attention.
Why’s this important? Because this second, softer, type of attention helps our brains recharge and restore the energy needed for deeper, more focused thinking. Without swapping between the two, regularly, we get stuck in overthinking cycles and our ability to make sound decisions and judgement becomes impaired.
How to Escape the Thought Spiral
If your brain is staging a one-person TED Talk at 3 a.m., here’s how to give it a break:
Step Outside (Literally). Even 20 minutes in a green space has been shown to lower stress and boost focus. Your timeline will survive.
Trade the Scroll for a Stroll. Instead of another 45-minute TikTok binge, go for a walk. A study published in Scientific Reports found that a 40-minute walk in nature enhances executive control at a neural level.
“Touch Grass” Regularly. Whether it’s a solo hike, a walk by water, or just lying on the grass dramatically - your nervous system needs it.
Go Fully Offline (If Only for a Few Hours). Your brain is not built for endless inputs. The news cycle will still be messy when you get back.
The Bottom Line
Your brain isn’t broken - it’s just burnt out. And no, you don’t need to escape to a remote cabin necessarily to fix it. But you do need moments where your mind isn’t processing 14 different things at once.
So, next time you catch yourself overthinking your overthinking, take the hint. Step outside. Breathe. Let the trees do their thing.
Looking for somewhere to think a little less? We know a place.