You can make the best of your overthinking capabilities and introvert inclinations by reading these four books.
Do you overthink or do you talk to yourself a lot?
Being an introvert or overthinking isn’t abnormal. It’s special capabilities that sometimes go wasted. You don’t know how powerful an introvert or an overthinker can be if they know how to make the best of their endowed capabilities.
An introvert and an overthinker aren’t the same things. However, there are similarities both share: they spend most of their time inside their heads.
But the problem is that the head is not always a good place to spend time in. As the saying goes, an empty mind is a devil’s place. So, if your mind is empty the demons of your thoughts will divert it into negative things. They will push you into a dismal abyss of anxieties and make you ruminate more about unhealthy things.
As an introvert, I know the voices in our heads create storms that often make our lives difficult. I talk to myself too much. But over the years of studies, I have learned to divert those thoughts into fruitful achievements. I make stories from my thoughts. I let my thoughts live in words on pages and blogs. The chatter inside my head helps me in my decision and judgment power.
But how do I do that?
I read books. I learn from them. I don’t let my head go empty to give the demons the space to make me do unspeakable and undesirable things.
Over time, I have found these books highly beneficial for introverts and overthinkers. If you are an introvert or overthinker, these books will help you direct and channelize your thinking by making it purpose-oriented.
To make the best of your overthinking and introvertive ruminating capabilities, I suggest these four fantastic soul-opening books to make your mind a place worthy of dwellings.
4. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking By Susan Cain
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking was published by Susan Cain, an American writer, and former lawyer. In her book, she has successfully challenged the common view of the modern world, specifically of Western culture, that undervalues the capabilities and misunderstands the talents of introverted people leading to “a colossal waste of talent, energy, and happiness”.
She has debunked the popular perception of the western world that views introversion as an inferior temperament of character while eulogizing extrovert traits.
She argues that this trend is rooted in the Greco-Roman identity of men who praised oratory skills and admired men of action. This heightened admiration of the extrovert ideal in the Western culture has forced introverts to act as pseudo-extroverts.
Through her research that encompasses psychology, neuroscience, and biology, she has proved that introversion is common and normal. However, an introvert is more creative and talented than extroverts and can adopt extrovert traits with much ease.
Reading Quite has changed my perception of how I looked at myself. I thought of myself to be inferior or lacking something before reading it. But now I feel more blessed and fulfilled. It has changed my perception about how I look at personalities now.
Susan Cain says in her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking:
“Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.”
“Don’t think of introversion as something that needs to be cured.”
3. The Powerful Purpose of Introverts: Why the World Needs You to Be You By Holley Gerth
The Powerful Purpose of Introverts: Why the World Needs You to Be You by Holley Gerth has far-reaching effects on my views about introversion. As a general perception of almost all cultures, introverts are viewed as people of no society. People considered good for nothing but to think and talk strangely. They are often laughed at or considered dumb-headed as they don’t take part in society as an extrovert does. The fact is that they don’t like surface chitchat and love to engage in insightful, deep, and philosophical discussion that deals mostly with abstract phenomenons.
But it would surprise you to know that the outstanding personalities of the past such as Albert Einstein, Joanna Gaines, Meryl Streep, President Abraham Lincoln, Oprah, and C. S. Lewis were all introverts. Not only them but almost every third is an introvert.
According to Holley Gerth, an introvert doesn’t need to behave like an extrovert to achieve excellence and make a difference. Instead, they should know what they have been bestowed with and use those God-gifted capabilities for the good of society. They need not be wallowing in the valleys of despair but rise above with the help of their inner strengths to lead and thrive in society.
In her book, Holley Gerth explores the transformative elements of being an introvert that how an introvert can connect with deeper realities of life, cultivate soul-filling solitude, exercise unexpected influence, form meaningful relationships, and much more. She tells us about the benefits and strengths of the psychological and spiritual aspects of their introversion.
Quotes from the book, The Powerful Purpose of Introverts: Why the World Needs You to Be You:
“I’m an introvert, and I will imperfectly and courageously offer my strengths of strategic solitude, meaningful connection, genuine influence, sacred confidence, true well-being, hard-won resilience, sharp thinking, insightful perception, and intentional energy as I live with purpose and grow for a lifetime.”
“Because of the way we process, we introverts often need longer to respond. We’re not slow thinkers; we’re deep thinkers.”
2. Get Out of My Head: Inspiration for Overthinkers in an Anxious World By Meredith Arthur
Get Out of My Head: Inspiration for Overthinkers in an Anxious World By Meredith Arthur is the best book for all overthinkers. Meredith Arthur is an American writer, video producer, and editor of the largest Medium Publication — Invisible Illness. Her book was published on May 5ht 2020 by Running Press Adult and has since then received applause from many expert readers and writers.
The book provides practical guidance on how to harness your power of overthinking. Instead of getting lost in the unabating storm of thinking that gripes your mind for hours that creates fears, anxieties, and stress, she takes you out of those grueling experiences by offering illustrated guides. She tells you how to understand your anxiety by identifying triggers, and motivation behind it, setting up healthy boundaries, and equipping yourself with powerful mental tools to deal with it.
Reading her book empowers you by making you realize that you are not weak or mentally ill. It’s just a capability that you can take control of and lead a thriving life.
Quotes from the book, Get Out of My Head: Inspiration for Overthinkers in an Anxious World:
“You find yourself stuck in repetitive thought. There are loops inside loops in your head. You pace in place, or even worse, furiously trying to find balance like a contestant in a logrolling competition. And then you find color.”
“Color, like music, can have an immediate grounding impact on thoughts. It draws us away from our racing mind into the physical reality of the moment.”
1. Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It By Ethan Kross
Humans are complex things and no one has fully understood them. Ranging from various spiritual, religious, social, political, mystical, and metaphysical experiences, he undergoes many other experiences as well, which we cannot name yet.
Such phenomenons also include inner voices which have always been there in the human head since we have seen the first light on the earth. This inner voice, which Kross calls the “Chatter” had been called by many names in various civilizations and cultures. The early Christians thought of it as a temptation by demonic forces to distract them during their contemplation. Similarly, the Chinese mystics called it the turbulent and deluded thoughts that cloud one’s mental weather. Some cultures associated it with wisdom and intuitions. However, still, the world is divided over its presence and attributes.
But Ethan Kross calls it Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters. He is a professor of Psychology and Management at the University of Michigan and works and leads the Emotion and Self Control Laboratory.
Over the years, he has researched controlling the mind consciously and harnessing its power for better use. He says that if you leave the chatter in your head uncontrolled, it can turn you into ruminating, worrying, and having anxieties. But if you direct these inner voices by harnessing their powers, it can help you solve problems, make you more creative and help you innovate things at greater speed.
Kross provides various practical steps and techniques which can be used as tools to direct your inner voices. You can make effective use of these creative tools by talking to yourself by your name and you. It means to be two at one time. It will help look at problems from two perspectives. By doing so, you detach yourself from the actual problem and see it as others, thus you can give a piece of competent advice on it.
There are many other techniques such as instead of talking to your friends about personal things which often lead to more tension, you can tell it to yourself.
Quotes from the book, Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It:
“When you feel smaller in the midst of awe-inspiring sights, so do your problems.”
“Although the inner voice functions well much of the time, it often leads to chatter — the cyclical negative thoughts and emotions that turn our singular capacity for introspection into a curse rather than a blessing.”
“The key to beating chatter isn’t to stop talking to yourself. The challenge is to figure out how to do so more effectively.
Wrapping Up
Introversion and overthinking are almost common phenomena. It’s nothing unusual. If you find yourself to be an introvert and find yourself not fitting in the society well, don’t worry, you have your own society.
Being an introvert is a blessing in disguise. It means you are mentally more powerful and can use that power to influence others. This temperament also helps you provide ample time and love for reading and writing because reading is most similar to talking to oneself.
Writing also helps introverts give vent to their chatters and inner voices that tease them unless given a proper vent.
Overthinking is also similar to introversion, but they are not the same. There is a subtle difference.
Both these situations are dangerous and difficult to manage if they are not taken care of. These temperaments are only good if they are watered from the great wisdom of wonderful books. Because books tell you how to understand yourself in relation to yourself and the universe.