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Overthinking: How to Get Unstuck From Being Inside Your Head

February 16, 2022 (Updated: September 1, 2024)by Jef van de Graaf™
Digital Journal2 min read

#1: My Digital Journal

How do you conquer the problem of overthinking when all your thoughts and feelings continually destroy your ability to do things?


You start a digital journal — that’s how!

When I grew up, writing was an outlet for my thoughts and frustrated teenage feelings. Even though I cringe whenever I re-read the stuff I wrote — the process of writing really helped me to work things out.

Pissed at your mum? Write a short story about running away from home, then actually go do it a few years later.

Rejected by your high school crush? Jot down a few words, call it a haiku, then stick it in her locker while she’s outside during recess to prove how truly amazing you are…. not.

Started a new business? Get a notebook to scribble every million-dollar idea with your cryptic handwriting so that nobody can understand it but you.

These are the reasons why I rely on writing — aside from my copywriting services to earn a living — to ease my overthinking brain.

However, it’s the last one that I want to focus on most but my tendency to overthink keeps getting in the way.

Overthinking
My overthinking causes me to:
  • Question my ability to do things I’m good at
  • Start and stop projects without making any progress
  • Feel a little bit hopeless, anxious, and depressed

So, I’m starting this digital journal with 3 objectives in mind:

  1. Focus on building one project at a time
  2. Move to the next project only after the previous project goes live
  3. Document the journey with a new entry every day

I’ll also be religiously following Henry Miller’s “rules of writing” with the hope that I don’t forget to: keep human — see people, go places, travel somewhere.

Because when my overthinking lasts for consecutive days, that’s when my entire world gets flipped upside down and all the progress I made feels like none at all.

Well, now it’s time to put an end to overthinking with writing…

…and editing, and publishing, and distribution, and social media shit and…. holy fuck, what have I gotten myself into?

Category: Digital Journal
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About Jef van de Graaf™

Hey! I’m Jef van de Graaf—a self-taught copywriter and web strategist from Toronto. For the past 10+ years, I’ve been living nomadically, building businesses online, and learning what it means to walk a path of your own making.

P.S., I’m writing my first book. If you want early previews and stories from the road, be sure to subscribe.

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Jef van de Graaf

Hi, I’m Jef 

I’m a copywriter and website maker from Toronto, Canada. Got a project in mind? Let’s make it happen.

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