Overthinking and thought spirals can feel like your brain has you trapped on repeat; in this episode, I’ll show you how to calm your mind by turning the volume down at the nervous system level so you can finally think clearly again. So, Let’s Talk About Mental Health!

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Episode Overview:

Overthinking? Stuck in thought spirals? Racing thoughts? If your mind won’t switch off and you feel trapped in your own head, this episode of the Let’s Talk About Mental Health podcast is for you. 

This week I’m exploring what’s really going on when an overactive mind ramps up. I’ll also dig into why anxiety and overthinking can fuel rumination, worst-case thinking and catastrophising, and we’ll talk about why “just stop thinking!” doesn’t work when your nervous system is on high alert.

I’ll guide you through a practical, real-life way of dealing with overthinking: calm your nervous system with simple nervous system regulation first, then use a clear step-by-step process to interrupt thought spirals and choose what actually deserves your attention. 

By the end of this episode you’ll know how to stop overthinking in the moment, how to calm your mind more quickly, and what you can do to build habits that stop negative thought spirals from running your life.

👉 Ready to calm your mind and turn the volume down on the noise? Then let’s talk!

💡 TL;DR: Overthinking and thought spirals can feel like your brain has you stuck on repeat; in this episode, I’ll show you how to calm your mind by turning the volume down at the nervous system level so you can finally think clearly again. 🙂

New here? Hi! Let’s Talk About Mental Health is your weekly dose of practical mental health advice for real life. I’m Jeremy Godwin (hello! 👋) and I keep things simple, honest, and doable so you can feel more in control of your life and your mental wellbeing. If you’re not already a free subscriber, sign up below to have episodes and transcripts land in your inbox every Sunday:

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Episode Transcript:

Overthinking and thought spirals: how to calm your mind

If your brain won’t switch off and you’re overthinking everything, running through worst case scenarios in your head over and over, you’re not damaged. You’re overloaded. And in this episode, I’m going to show you how to turn down the volume on a thought spiral in a way that actually works in real life. Because when your mind is loud like that, it’s usually trying to keep you safe… it’s just doing it really badly.

And the fix here is not ‘think harder’. The fix is: state first, then story. So we need to turn the noise down before you try to solve it, and I’m going to show you exactly how to do that.

So, let’s talk about… how to stop a thought spiral.

Hello and welcome back to Let’s Talk About Mental Health! I’m Jeremy Godwin and this show is all about practical mental health advice for real life. Today we’re talking about that painfully familiar moment where your mind just will not shut up: when it’s overthinking, replaying things, spiralling out of control, and probably judging everything you’ve ever said and done in the process.

Now… if you’ve been dealing with that lately, you’re not alone, and I’m going to help you understand why it happens, as well as how to tackle it in a way that actually works. Before we go any further, let me just say this very clearly: if you’re listening right now thinking, “Yeah, this is me… and I hate it when it happens,” you’re not failing at life. You’re just dealing with a brain that’s really trying to protect you… it’s just doing it in a way that’s loud, messy, and not very helpful.

If you’re new here, just so you know where I’m coming from I’m a counsellor and I’ve also lived the whole “my brain won’t switch off!” experience for a very long time, so I’m not perfect at this… but, thankfully, I’ve learned how to manage it with a lot of therapy and hard work, and so I’m going to share what I’ve learned here today. The first thing you need to know is this: your brain is not your enemy. If anything, it’s an over-enthusiastic security guard.

Basically what we’re doing here is nervous system regulation; helping your body come out of threat mode so your mind stops screaming for certainty… because you can’t think your way out of a nervous system problem while you’re still inside the nervous system alarm. So if you do happen to be someone who, like me, is prone to overthinking and thought spirals, especially when you’re stressed, then the good news is you don’t need a personality bypass.

What you need is a process… and that’s exactly what you’ll have by the end of this episode. To get there, we need to understand what’s going on and why when you’re in that overthinking head space. So let’s talk about…

What overthinking really is

Alright, let’s define what we’re actually talking about here and I have covered ‘overthinking’ in a couple of episodes in the past; I’ll leave the episode numbers in the description if you want to explore some of those episodes. But today is really about those ‘in the moment’ techniques. Now the thing is, the term ‘overthinking’ gets used for everything from being careful to being anxious to simply having a functioning brain.

But in plain English, ‘overthinking’ is when your mind runs the same mental loops again and again because it’s trying to land on certainty, safety, or a clear answer. It feels productive because, well, you’re analysing things, you’re reviewing, you’re replaying… but emotionally it doesn’t resolve anything; it just keeps you ‘switched on’ and going through that thought spiral.

A ‘thought spiral’ is what happens when one thought triggers another thought, kind of like a Wikipedia rabbit hole, and suddenly you’ve gone from, “I sounded awkward in that meeting,” to “Everyone thinks I’m incompetent,” and then to “I’m going to lose my job!” and then to, “Well, that’s it… I’m going to end up alone for the rest of my life eating generic cereal for dinner.” Which, look, cereal is fine… but you know what I mean!

A spiral is not proof that your thoughts are right. It’s proof that your nervous system is activated. Most spirals have two familiar flavours. ‘Replay mode’ is when you cross examine conversations, messages, tone, and facial expressions, etc., trying to decode what it all means. ‘Prediction mode’ is scanning the future for what could possibly go wrong, even remotely, and then trying to mentally prepare for absolutely every potential outcome. Different flavour, but the same result: more tension, and a lot less clarity.

There’s a really simple filter that you can put on these types of thoughts to act as a circuit breaker. Ask yourself: “Is this thinking helping me choose a next step? Or is it helping me avoid a feeling?” And ‘discomfort’ is a feeling, by the way! Because a lot of spirals are emotional avoidance dressed up as ‘analysis’. And then ask yourself this: “Does this lead to a decision, an action, or closure? Or… does it lead to more tension, urgency, self-doubt, and looping?” If it’s making you smaller, it’s not helping you.

Overthinking usually comes with a physical signature, too: tight chest, clenched jaw, shallow breathing, restless legs, that ‘wired but tired’ feeling where your brain is sprinting and the rest of you is just begging for a lie down. I’m not going to be treating this as a thinking problem only; we’re treating this as a state problem. Because when you’re in that state, when your nervous system is all revved up and on high alert, your mind will write stories to match the state you’re in. Your mind is always trying to clarify things, and that’s why it can be so hard to stop once it starts.

So, let’s talk about…

Why your brain won’t switch off

Overthinking affects your mental health because it doesn’t just fill your mind… it changes your whole internal environment. It keeps you tense, it drains your energy, and it quietly chips away at your sense of safety.

Here’s the simplest way to understand it. When your nervous system is in threat mode, your brain goes looking for threats so that it can be clear about what the source of the issue is. Your brain does not like not knowing, and so if there isn’t an obvious threat in front of you it scans the rest of your life for something that could possibly explain the feeling. That’s why thought spirals tend to ramp up when you’re tired, or stressed, or burnt out, in conflict, or lonely, or dealing with uncertainty; your body, at that point, is already on edge, and so your mind starts trying to justify it.

A common mistake most people make is to treat the loud thought or thoughts as being the problem… but that just will not work. Instead, the fix is to treat the state as the problem first and then we decide what the thought actually deserves or not later on. Because the thoughts themselves often are not the root cause of what’s going on. Right? So the engine underneath it is: “I don’t feel safe right now, so I need to figure this out.”

The tricky part is that overthinking can feel like you’re taking control. It could feel like responsibility because you’re staying on top of things, or trying to… but emotionally it’s rarely ever soothing. If anything, it’s the opposite, right?! It’s activating. And the longer it goes on, the more your brain learns, “Oh, yep, I’m onto something; look, I feel really horrible now. Keep going! I need to dig deeper!” And so the loop gets reinforced.

Then there’s the meaning piece where your brain goes, “What does all of this say about me?” And that’s where overthinking joins forces, and turns into, self-judgment. You’re not just analysing the situation anymore… now you’re analysing your entire worth. And that’s brutal on your mental health, because it feeds into shame and anxiety and that sense of being permanently ‘on trial’ and not good enough.

The thing is that if your thought spirals are mostly you trying to work out what everything means, what you’re often chasing is certainty. And life just does not offer it. But your brain is a persistent little critter and it demands that certainty, right? And so it pushes you harder and harder and harder. And what happens? You end up exhausted, physically and emotionally. Instead of being reassured, it makes things worse.

Look, your brain is trying to protect you… but it’s also making you less able to cope. And accepting both of those truths allows you to be less judgmental towards yourself and more able to objectively approach the situation. Because when you’re stuck in overthinking and thought spirals, you’re not recovering. You’re reliving. You’re not solving anything. Your nervous system cannot tell the difference between thinking about danger and actually being in danger; it reacts either way.

So here are two lines that I want you to remember. First: overthinking is your nervous system asking for safety in the wrong language. And second: you don’t need to win an argument with your thoughts. You need a calmer state to think from, and we’re going to talk about how to do all of that right after this quick break.

[AD BREAK]

And welcome back! So now let’s talk about…

How to deal with overthinking

Alright! It’s practical advice time, which is the core of this show. I promised you a process, and so here it is: the ‘volume down’ process. The message here is really simple: state first, then story, like I said earlier. So that means turning down the noise in your body first and then deciding what deserves your attention. In other words: calm first, clarity second.

And so here’s how to do that step by step:

Step 1: Name the spiral.

And I’m well aware that this first step is almost laughably simple, but it’s incredibly powerful. Just simply name the mode you’re in. Say to yourself, “I’m in a thought spiral,” or “This is overthinking.” Nothing else. It’s not, “I’m right” or “This is urgent”… just, “I’m spiralling.”

The point here is thought spirals are hypnotic and it’s really easy to get sucked into one… but when you name it, you break the spell and you create just enough distance to make a choice instead of just being dragged along for the ride.

If you want a simple line that you can use to do this, try this: “My brain is doing its ‘safety thing’ again.” Because as we know, two things can be true: it’s trying to help, and it’s doing a terrible job of it. Noticing disrupts the spiral.

Step 2: Do a 60-second state shift.

This is the part most people skip, or they rush through, and it’s why they stay stuck. If your nervous system is all revved up, you can’t just reason your way into calm. So, do a minimum 60-second reset instead. Drop your shoulders, unclench your jaw, breathe in through your nose for four, out for six, nice and slowly, and do that at least five times, and then anchor your body while you’re doing it: feet into the floor, hands together or hold something textured… give your brain a physical ‘here’ to land on. And while you’re doing it, as you’ve done a few breaths, say, “Right now I’m safe enough.”

This is not about saying everything is perfect… we just want to focus on ‘safe enough’. This is nervous system regulation in practice. You’re helping your body come out of threat mode, so that your mind stops screaming for certainty.

Now, if you only do it for 10 seconds and then still feel anxious and decide that it didn’t work… well, it’s not failure, but it’s just not long enough. It takes a while for you to, first of all, get over the emotional hijack, but second of all, to calm your body down. If the spiral is strong, do the full minute. And then do it again as many times as you need to. You’re sending a signal here, not making a wish… so you may have to send that signal a few times.

Be kind to yourself, and be realistic while you do it. Your job is not to feel amazing; it’s to feel less hijacked.

Step 3: Make it repeatable.

The goal here isn’t to never overthink again… good luck trying to stop that! The goal is to notice it sooner, interrupt it sooner, and recover faster so that your mind stops running your life. And yes, you might need to run this process five times in one day… and that’s OK. That doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with you. That’s you learning by practicing, and it’s how we learn. Repetition is how you learn.

Step 4: Create your spiral script.

Over the next week or two, build a ‘spiral script’ for yourself: a few lines you can repeat word for word when you start spiralling. Because in a thought spiral, you tend to start improvising or negotiating with your thoughts and try to solve everything while you’re in a heightened and activated state… and it just doesn’t work. A script stops you from doing that without having to think about it too much.

Here is an example that you can use; feel free to tweak it so that it sounds more like you. It is: “I’m spiralling. My body is in threat mode. I’m going to reset for one minute. I’m not trying to solve my whole life right now. I’m choosing one next step.” That last line matters, because spirals try to turn one awkward moment into an entire identity crisis… but one moment is not your whole life.

And just a quick note here: your script is not for when you’re calm. It’s for when you’re not calm. So put it somewhere that you’ll actually see it: in your notes app, really visible, put it on your lock screen, or on a sticky note in the bedside drawer or above your desk. Give your future self a really simple handrail that you can grab onto when you need it.

Step 5: The daily offload.

Next, I want you to spend 10 minutes a day doing a daily mental offload. This is not journalling. It is most certainly not a self-judgment session. It’s just about dumping your thoughts into a ‘container’, so your brain stops carrying everything around like it’s a live grenade.

Now, I’m not talking about a Tupperware container here… grab a notebook and pen, and then set a timer for 10 minutes and write three headings. First, ‘What’s on my mind’. Then, ‘What I can control’. And then, ‘What can wait’.

So you’ve got those three headings… then I want you to use the rest of the 10 minutes to pour it all out without censoring yourself. Don’t think about it; just write it out, OK, so that it’s not just all swimming around in your head. Capture it, don’t carry it. When the timer ends, pick one small next step from the ‘control’ column and focus on that for the next 24 hours.

This simple process works because overthinking often comes from your brain trying to remember everything and solve everything. So when you give it a container, a place to put all of those thoughts and worries and problems, it can begin to relax a little bit. The more you do this, the less those thoughts will swim around in your head like hungry sharks at feeding time.

And don’t read what you write down, at least not for a few hours or longer if you can! The point here is to let it out to get it out. You can go back and tackle problems and issues later, when you’re in the right headspace.

Step 6: Work on why the dial keeps turning back up.

This is the longer term work: understanding what the drivers are underneath your overthinking. Because if you don’t identify them, and address them, you’ll keep getting pulled back into the same old loops whenever life gets messy.

Common drivers include: perfectionism, where making mistakes feels dangerous; shame, like fear of rejection or humiliation; and control, where uncertainty feels unbearable. Two other common ones are: hyper-responsibility, which means carrying other people’s feelings like they’re your job; and intolerance of uncertainty, which is about needing to know right now what everything means and exactly where you stand.

Look, your circumstances are obviously going to be specific to you and your situation, so working through this stuff will definitely help you to understand what’s going on and why. Because sometimes your brain isn’t solving… it’s self-soothing.

There’s also one more driver that deserves its own moment and mention, and it’s people pleasing and old safety patterns. So if you grew up around unpredictable moods, criticism, or emotional volatility, or if you learned early that keeping people happy kept you safer, your brain can become hyper-attuned to signs that you’ve messed up. So you replay things, you analyse tone, you actively hunt for meaning, you preempt rejection, and you try to fix things before anyone’s even said that there’s a problem. That is not you being dramatic… that’s a nervous system that learned ‘connection’ can often feel fragile.

The longer term work here is building your tolerance for discomfort without going straight into repair mode: letting someone be disappointed, letting a message sit there unanswered, letting uncertainty exist for a while, and proving to yourself through repetition that you’re still safe and you’re still OK when that happens. Discomfort isn’t danger. It’s just discomfort.

So here’s the key shift to focus on. Instead of asking, “How do I stop overthinking?” ask yourself, “What is my brain trying to prevent me from feeling?” Overthinking is often an attempt to avoid emotions like embarrassment, rejection, regret, grief, or failure, or to avoid not knowing something. And when you work on the drivers, you don’t just reduce thought spirals… you also build a much calmer life inside your own head.

So, those are the tips. Work through them one step at a time, and show yourself patience and kindness while you do. Remember, you can always find all the tips I share in the episode transcript available on my website at: ltamh.com/episodes. If you join my free mailing list you’ll get it in your inbox every Sunday, and that’s linked in the episode description below.

Conclusion

Here’s what I want you to take away from this episode. When your brain won’t switch off, it’s usually your nervous system chasing safety… and you can learn to turn the volume down without punishing yourself for having such a loud mind.

So… what’s your overthinking trying to protect you from feeling? And, what would it look like to create safety in a kinder way?

Because when you boil it all down, overthinking is often a search for safety… and you can learn to give yourself that safety in ways that actually help you calm your mind.

Each week, I like to finish up by sharing a quote about the topic, and I encourage you to take a few moments to really reflect on it and consider what it means to you. This week’s quote is by the late writer Erma Bombeck, and it is:

Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.

Erma Bombeck

Let me repeat that:

Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.

Alright, that’s it for this week! Support my show by giving it a like and sharing it, and you can join my Patreon for early ad-free episodes and extras. It’s linked below.

Thank you very much for joining me today. Look after yourself and make a conscious effort to share positivity and kindness out into the world… because you get back what you put out. Take care and talk to you next time!

Let’s Talk About Mental Health is an independent program. Discover more at ltamh.com.

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Find more content at www.ltamh.com

Let’s Talk About Mental Health.
Making Mental Health Simple.

Let’s Talk About Mental Health. © 2026 Jeremy Godwin.

The information provided in this episode is for general awareness on the topic and does not constitute advice. You should consult a doctor and/or mental health professional if you’re struggling with your mental health and wellbeing. You’ll find additional information on the Resources page of this website.