How to Stop Overthinking
We all have times when we worry, whether it’s about work, health, family, relationships or a host of other reasons. But is there a point when you may think and worry too much?
Overthinking is an unhealthy habit that typically causes more stress by focusing on the negative instead of coming up with logical solutions. For example, we may start worrying about a specific situation at work, which leads to worrying about money or losing jobs.
But why do we tend to overthink? This is often due to cognitive errors, which are basically errors in logical thinking, such as all-or-nothing thinking and overgeneralisation. Although overthinking is hard to break, Natacha Duke, a registered psychotherapist, outlines strategies that can help.
“Healthy distraction can be useful,” says Duke. Activities like reading and taking a walk can help keep our stress levels down. They can reduce our baseline level of anxiety and make us less likely to overthink.
Duke adds, “Keeping a daily journal can help us actively manage stress before our feelings expand out of control.” As we practise journaling our emotions and thoughts, it becomes easier to identify when we’re starting to worry. Stopping worrying early will ultimately help us feel better and stay focused on what matters most to us.
Some people constantly think about questions like “What if I lose my job?” or “What if I get sick?” While having these thoughts is normal, it becomes a problem when we focus only on the worst-case situation. “For every ‘what if’ worry, change this to an ‘if then’ statement where you come up with ideas to deal with the worry or the worst-case situation,” says Duke. “Focus on having a concrete plan in place.”
So, face the problems, then challenge and reframe them. Finally, we will develop effective ways to cope with overthinking.
1. What is overthinking?2. What causes overthinking?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
A man can stop overthinking if he changes “what if” questions to “if then” statements, because it helps him focus on the worst-case situation.
4. Besides the suggestions mentioned in the passage, what other advice will you give to a person who is always overthinking?
2 . A person could be forgiven for believing 20 years ago that the Internet would soon revolutionise academic publishing, because it became possible for publishers to spread scholarly work at the click of a button — much cheaper than the traditional subscription-based (订阅) model. Recognising the opportunity, many scholars and librarians began to advocate a new, open access model, in which articles are made freely available online to anyone. The result would be a true online public library of science.
However, more than two decades later, the movement has made only slight progress, and the traditional subscription-based model remains entrenched.
Fortunately, things are changing. A big shoe dropped when the University of California (UC) Libraries, one of the biggest library systems, declined to renew its contract with Elsevier, a leading scientific publisher. Elsevier wanted the Libraries to pay two fees: One for its package of licensed journals and the other for the use of Elsevier’s open access model. UC Libraries wanted the licensed journals fee to cover the open access fee; they also wanted open access to all UC researches published in Elsevier journals. When the two sides couldn’t come to terms, the Libraries walked away.
Actually, the open access revolution is more likely to be led by research funding agencies, who can use their purse power to promote open access. A team of funders, Coalition S, insisted that any research they fund should be published in a journal that makes all of its articles freely and immediately available to the public, which is called Plan-S.
Now that some librarians and funders are flexing their muscles, what should academics do? The worst response would be to complain that Plan-S deprives(剥夺) them of academic freedom. Some thoughtful academics might worry that a shift to open access would affect their promotion. After all, subscription journals are more familiar and more prestigious (有威望的) in the current system. However, if enough academics support open access, the system could reach a tipping point beyond which subscriptions no longer signal prestige. Reaching that point would take considerable time and efforts, but it is possible.
When the journal system began in 1665, it was kind of a form of open access. Journals allowed academics to learn openly from one another. It was only in the 1900s that the journal system became thoroughly commoditized(商品化). Now is the time to bring it back to its roots.
1. What does the underlined word probably mean?| A．Uncertain. | B．Rooted. | C．Limited. | D．Popular. |
| A．The duration of the contract. | B．The way of payment. |
| C．The charge for open access model. | D．The choice of licensed journals. |
| A．Academics welcome open access model with full heart. |
| B．Open access model will soon achieve a dominant position. |
| C．Publishers are willing to abandon the subscription model gradually. |
| D．Establishing a true online public library of science requires joint efforts. |
| A．Critical. | B．Supportive. | C．Disapproving. | D．Indifferent. |
Bandung, one of Indonesia’s major cities, is only 150 kilometers from Jakarta, the capital, but the drive is at an average of three hours even with a freeway
4 . Psychologists tell us our self-image defines what we believe we can and cannot do. Each of us over the years has built up belief about ourselves: Unconsciously, our pictures of who we are have been formed by past experiences. Our successes and failures, what others have told us and what we think people believe about us all help form impressions of what we think we are. Because self-image is so important in our growth, it is important to examine our concepts of self in order to reach our full potential.
Changing our self-image is possible: Some psychologists suggest we begin to change our self-image by mentally picturing ourselves performing well at some task. Since we presently react to things based on our present images, it’s suggested that we replace those with better ones. In many experiments, people were asked to sit quietly for a few minutes each day and imagine themselves doing well. For instance, subjects would sit and imagine themselves throwing darts at a bull’s-eye on a target. Over a period of weeks, their dart game improved. This has been done with people who wanted to play chess better, throw a ball more accurately increase their salesmanship or musical talents, and improve many other skills. In most cases, remarkable improvement is made.
The point of changing self-image is not to develop an image of ourselves that is not real. To try to become something we really aren’t is just as wrong as living the unrealistic, inferior image we may have. The aim is to find the real self, to bring our mental images of ourselves in line with our true potential. However, it is generally accepted among psychologists that most of us fail to do justice to ourselves. We’re usually better than we think we are.
Another important part of changing self-image is to not think about past mistakes.Don’t let failures do harm. Our errors or humiliation over mistakes are necessary steps in learning. It is all right to make mistakes. But when they have taught us what we did wrong, we should forget them and not dwell on them. Sometimes we keep remembering our failures or mistakes and feel guilty or embarrassed about them. We let them take over, and then we develop a fear.
It is important to have realistic expectations of ourselves. Some of our dissatisfaction might come from expecting too much of ourselves. If we demand constant perfection in everything we do, we can be disappointed and our poor self- image will continue. If our goal is to reach perfection, we are doomed from the start.
1. Which situation agrees with the idea of the passage?| A．To outshine his colleagues, Joe sets an idealistic goal. |
| B．To get along with her classmates, Doris always humbles herself. |
| C．To become a star player, Alex repeatedly plays back his faults in his mind. |
| D．To win a speech contest, Tina visualizes herself speaking more confidently. |
| A．To confirm the effect of changing self-image. |
| B．To clarify the principle of changing self-image. |
| C．To propose a new view on changing self-image. |
| D．To stress the importance of changing self-image. |
| A．They are part of our growth. |
| B．They are warnings for future. |
| C．They are tools for overcoming fear. |
| D．They are barriers to our development. |
| A．We Are What We Do |
| B．Be the Best We Can Be |
| C．We Are What We Think We Are |
| D．What We Are Decides What We Think |
