Why You're Addicted to Thinking (And What to Do Instead) | Alex OlshonksyWhy You're Addicted to Thinking (And What to Do Instead) | Alex Olshonksy
The One You Feed
Eric Zimmer and Alex Olshonsky talk about how compulsive thinking can mirror addiction, and how somatic and contemplative practices can ease rumination. The conversation blends Alex’s recovery story with practical tools for anyone who feels trapped in their own thoughts.
58:55•16 Jun 2026
Why Overthinking Feels Like an Addiction with Alex Olshonsky
Episode Overview
- Compulsive thinking can behave like an addiction, with both compulsivity and negative consequences.
- “Overthinking is always underfeeling” – persistent rumination often masks unprocessed sensations and emotions in the body.
- Simple somatic practices, like breathing into the pelvic area or imagining breath through the soles of the feet, can calm mental noise.
- Widening attention to the full visual field and to bodily sensations helps loosen identification with thoughts.
- Lasting change comes from action: you cannot think your way out of addiction, but you can act your way into new ways of thinking.
“Overthinking is always underfeeling.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol or drugs, only to realise the real hook might be in their own head? This conversation between host Eric Zimmer and writer, coach, and long-time sober addict Alex Olshonsky digs into how compulsive thinking can start to look a lot like addiction.
Alex shares his story of being a “high-functioning” heroin user in Silicon Valley, building Twitter by day and ducking into “the junkie’s office” – the handicap loo – between meetings to use. He links this double life back to the show’s core parable of the two wolves, describing how drugs once felt like magic powers before he saw they were driven by “utter shame and terror and madness”.
Now over ten years sober, Alex says the subtler addiction that remained was in his mind: “Overthinking is always underfeeling.” He explains how rumination, replaying conversations, and planning career domination were just new ways to dodge uncomfortable sensations in his body. Using a recovery lens, he suggests compulsive thought fits a simple definition of addiction: it’s both compulsive and has negative consequences. You’ll hear how meditation, somatic psychotherapy, plant medicine, and eventually non-dual traditions shifted his relationship with thoughts.
Rather than trying to stop thinking, Alex focuses on “attentional agency” – learning to rest attention on what isn’t a thought. He walks through simple practices you can try in daily life: breathing into the pelvic bowl, imagining your feet have nostrils drawing breath from the ground, and widening your visual field to soften mental noise.
Eric and Alex also compare notes on psychedelics in recovery, the lure of using spiritual tools as another escape, and why, as Alex puts it, “you can’t think your way out of addiction.” If your mind feels like it’s stuck on fast-forward, this conversation might leave you asking: what if less thinking, not more, is the real relief you’ve been chasing?
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