The Cabin blog
Quiet reads on thinking things through
Honest, practical writing on overthinking, journaling, and everyday emotional wellbeing.
Recently updated
The most recently revised pieces first. Each card shows when a piece was published and, if it has been revised since, when it was last edited. Feed · How we write
Journaling on a phone or on paper
Published 16 October 2026
Paper wins when you sit down to think. The phone wins at capture. How to tell which job tonight is, and why the phone on the table still costs you.
How to stop second-guessing a decision you already made
Published 13 October 2026
How to tell a new fact from a rerun when a made decision keeps reopening: a decision record, a reopen line, one review date, and when doubt is right.
Worries you cannot do anything about
Published 9 October 2026
When a worry has no next action: how to tell, why treating it as a problem makes it worse, and what to do instead.
Going back on a yes you already gave
Published 2 October 2026
How to withdraw from something you already agreed to: three kinds of yes, why to speak up early, a three-part message, and when you should go anyway.
How to reread your own journal
Published 2 October 2026
A journal is a biased sample of your worst evenings. How to read it back for information: three pencil marks, a count, and the days not to open it.
Morning pages: what they are and why they work
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 2 October 2026
Morning pages are three longhand pages written first thing, about nothing in particular. What they are for, what the research shows, where they fail.
Overthinking & everyday decisions
How to think things through without overthinking
Published 29 June 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Overthinking comes in six shapes that need opposite fixes. Find which one is yours, and use one test to tell thinking from circling.
Analysis paralysis: why you freeze on choices
Published 29 June 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Why more research stops helping you decide, and the fix: set your good-enough bar before you look, then count what the search has already cost.
How to decide when you're genuinely torn
Published 29 June 2026 · Updated 2 October 2026
Four tie-breakers for a decision where both options are genuinely close, and the question that settles it: which loss can you live with?
How to stop replaying conversations in your head
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 2 October 2026
Replaying a conversation is rehearsing, not remembering. Two questions that end most loops, a worked example, and when the replay is right.
How to make decisions when you're a people-pleaser
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
If you decide by reading the room, your own preference gets lost. How to hear it again, starting with small choices, and when scanning is right.
Why too many choices makes you miserable (and what to do)
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
What the jam study found, what later research did to it, and two rules: commit fast when a choice can be undone, cap the options when it cannot.
How to trust your gut without overthinking it
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
A gut feeling is fast pattern-matching. When it deserves a vote, how to tell it from fear, and how to unpack what it noticed into facts you can check.
Why "sleeping on it" actually works
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Sleep does not solve the decision for you; that idea failed replication. What a night does is restore proportion. How to use it, and when not to wait.
How to stop second-guessing a decision you already made
Published 13 October 2026
How to tell a new fact from a rerun when a made decision keeps reopening: a decision record, a reopen line, one review date, and when doubt is right.
Journaling & reflection
A simple guide to reflective journaling
Published 29 June 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Journaling is about five different moves, each for a different state of mind. A worked five-minute example and which technique fits which night.
40 journaling prompts for overthinkers
Published 29 June 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Forty journaling prompts grouped by what is going on: a loud head, a stuck decision, a replayed moment, a hard week. One is answered in full.
How to start journaling when you don't know what to write
Published 29 June 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Sentence openers that get you past a blank page, a five-minute timer that tells you when to stop, and the cases where neither will help.
Journaling vs meditation for a busy mind
Published 29 June 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Journaling engages your thoughts and meditation lets them pass. How to tell which one a busy mind needs tonight, and why writing first often helps.
Morning pages: what they are and why they work
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 2 October 2026
Morning pages are three longhand pages written first thing, about nothing in particular. What they are for, what the research shows, where they fail.
Gratitude journaling without the cringe
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Why a gratitude journal may work better once a week than daily, and with one specific thing instead of three. What the research found, with examples.
How to journal when nothing's wrong
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
What to write on a day when nothing is wrong: four directions for calm-day journaling, a two-minute example, and why not to go hunting for a problem.
How to keep a journaling habit that actually sticks
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
A journaling habit lasts when the target is one sentence, it is tied to something you already do, and a missed day carries no guilt.
How to reread your own journal
Published 2 October 2026
A journal is a biased sample of your worst evenings. How to read it back for information: three pencil marks, a count, and the days not to open it.
Journaling on a phone or on paper
Published 16 October 2026
Paper wins when you sit down to think. The phone wins at capture. How to tell which job tonight is, and why the phone on the table still costs you.
Everyday emotional wellbeing
How to name and sit with your feelings
Published 29 June 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Naming a feeling helps because each specific feeling asks for something. A four-step practice: the body, a more precise word, the request, a choice.
How to name what you're feeling (a feelings vocabulary)
Published 29 June 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
A feelings vocabulary for getting past "stressed": check the body first, go one notch more specific, and find the need behind the word.
How to calm a racing mind at night
Published 29 June 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Five things to try when your mind races in bed, in order, including when to get up. Plus what backfires, and a ten-minute evening routine.
Venting vs fixing: when you just need to be heard
Published 29 June 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Why advice can feel worse than silence when you only wanted to be heard, and two sentences that tell a listener whether you want help or an ear.
How to sit with uncertainty
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 2 October 2026
Waiting on news fills the blank with worst cases. How to tell preparing from rehearsing, turn the worry into a short written plan, and where that fails.
The Sunday scaries, and how to soften them
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Sunday dread is mostly anticipation. Turn the week into a list to find the one item behind it, soften the evening, and check if the dread is accurate.
Setting boundaries without the guilt
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
The guilt after saying no is usually an old alarm, not proof you were wrong. How to say a short, warm no, what to expect after, and when a bare no fails.
How to be alone without feeling lonely
Published 3 July 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
Being alone and feeling lonely are different things. What separates a good evening alone from a bad one, two cheap fixes, and when you need people.
Going back on a yes you already gave
Published 2 October 2026
How to withdraw from something you already agreed to: three kinds of yes, why to speak up early, a three-part message, and when you should go anyway.
Worries you cannot do anything about
Published 9 October 2026
When a worry has no next action: how to tell, why treating it as a problem makes it worse, and what to do instead.