Mental gymnastics refers to allowing our brain to take illogical decisions and unjustified action, ultimately leading our mind into a destructive thought pattern. Making illegitimate excuses for things and blaming the consequences of your actions on others is one of the indicators of a person stuck in mental gymnastics. According to Shemena Johnson (a psychotherapist), “mental gymnastics is the exact thing that keeps you from doing the only thing you need to do.” Hence, it is a thought pattern that makes people stop doing things that would make them productive. Many doctors say that mental gymnastics works like a ripple effect because people make excuses out of excuses to the point where the person starts to believe that he or she is incompetent and insufficient. Many patients of mental gymnastics usually ask questions like “What ifs.” They create too many realities within their brains that it hinders them from seeing things with clarity. The self-doubt and the lack of self-confidence can cause people to start thinking profoundly pessimistic thoughts.
The essential things induced by mental gymnastics include a lack of confidence, self-sabotage, fear of failure, lack of motivation, and an inadequate support system. Doctors indicate these things as a mechanism of defense to things that cause tension or worry. To cut the concern and stress short, these people procrastinate. Procrastination is the base of a defense these people set up, which later gives birth to emotions such as lack of confidence and the feeling of inadequacy. But on the brighter side, doctors say that we all can overcome our anxiety over-drive by changing our approach to things.
Behavioral approach
Psychologists say that breaking work down into smaller segments and then doing them one by one can help people to change their approach to things. This new change in behavior can help people to find the motivation to start working. Step by step, working your way out of tension and anxiety will help people to end mental gymnastics and get productive again.
Break things down
The term “Slow and steady wins the race” can be taken as an approach under the condition. People must take things slowly and deal with them one by one. This will help them to find confidence in themselves in doing to work again. Working again can help people to maintain a routine that would slowly eradicate the feeling of incompetency and inadequacy. The work may be constituted as working out, writing, meditating, or even singing.
Give your thoughts a chance
Taking a mental break and asking yourself why you have such thoughts can sometimes also lead people to correct their root cause. Although this may cause anxiety, people need to break things inside their minds and take them one by one to reach the root cause of why a person is feeling inadequate. Once you find a direct reason of why you are feeling inadequate, you need to correct the action and take the problem face first. This may cause tension and worry, but dealing with ambiguity is the only way to solve the problem completely.