Journaling prompt: overthinking spiral and breaking it

I find journaling a comfortable way to reflect on my day and to connect with my feelings and emotions. On the day-to-day, we may express our happiness or frustrations, but often times, addressing the event may not mean addressing the emotions associated with it.

Journaling can be a great way to give more space for ourselves and write thoughts and feelings out. Believe it or not, for many introverts writing is just a really good way to express themselves.

Journaling prompt: overthinking spiral and breaking it

We explored overthinking in a previous blog post. Overthinking is the repetitive and prolonged focus on one’s thoughts—often about past events (rumination) or future possibilities (worry)—in a way that is unproductive, emotionally distressing, and interferes with effective decision-making or action. As mentioned, overthinking is not a bad thing by default, but when it gets repetitive without any real resolution and heightened negative emotions, it can start to impact our lives in unwanted ways.

When overthinking takes over, stop and notice:

1. What just happened that triggered your thoughts? (Describe the event, comment, or situation in 1–2 sentences.)

2. What’s the emotion you're feeling right now? (Name it — fear, worry, anger, shame, confusion, etc.)

3. Where do you feel this in your body? (Noticing physical sensations grounds awareness.)

4. What thoughts keep repeating in your mind? (Write them exactly as they appear — no filtering.)

5. On a scale of 1–10, how stuck in your head do you feel right now? (Gives a measurable check-in.)

Now that you've become aware of thought spiral, let's try to break it:

1. Is this thought moving you toward a solution or just replaying the problem?

2. What’s one concrete action you could take right now? (Smallest next step possible.)

3. If you couldn’t think about this for the next hour, what would you do instead? (Identifies healthy distraction or grounding.)

4. What would you tell a friend who was stuck in this spiral? (Externalizes perspective.)

By noticing and catching the spiral and starting to shift from it can help you move past the paralysis and spot opportunities to move forward with more ease and positivity.