How do I stop thinking about hypothetical situations?

see mind is a complex thing and there are endless possibilities everywhere. just make yourself ready for the things to come and accept them. this is gonna help you so much..

Personally, I am a planner. I jot down every single detail of how to do a thing mentally, and I actually make huge conversation trees just to check the effect my statements might have on the outcome of a situation. I live in a world filled with hypothetical situations because I impose them upon myself. Therefore,when I obsess a lot over things that won't happen, I usually begin addressing the problem by acknowledging that given the type of person I am, I will surely think about hypothetical situations. It was difficult for me initially to cope up with this sort of a realization. Often, thinking about a presumed confrontation would give me something that I believe was an anxiety attack (but was never formally verified to be so). I talked to a counsellor in my institute, and she helped me realize that all of this was pretty normal for people like me. She showed me that there was no reason for me to fight it, but that I could think of such situations and not fret about it too much. Of course, implementing this was difficult. I started out by focussing on things that were priorities in my life. Having my mind off certain issues would help me deal with the problem. Around this time, I started talking to other people about my fears, and started realizing that in some part or the other, everyone makes up hypothetical situations. Over time, this declined to a state where I could control it. Now, I can choose whether or not to overthink a particular situation. And when I do overthink by choice, which is frequent, I do so much more objectively.

I know that everyone is different but for me it helped to be able to recognize which of my thoughts were the anxious ones. I think in black, white and grey, so then I was able to associate the different thoughts with different shades in my head, so that I could recognize them more easily. Any that were anxious, I told myself that they were not mine and didn't belong to be so they became background noise.

If hypothetical situations are regularly distracting you, use your senses to ground yourself in the present. Make yourself aware of NOW by identifying things in your immediate surroundings: five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. Like any kind of mindfulness, it's about training your brain. Each time your mind starts to wander into stressful hypothetical situations, force it back into the present with this exercise.

By reading books, entretaining yourself with hobbies, knowing that those situations are not real and by paying attention to other details in life

You don't, its normal for a creative mind to think this way and in many situations this can be a great benefit to you. Look for a career in risk analysis, project management or similar. This skill will give you a great edge in this area. And this is the best way to deal with certain personality quirks: turn them to your advantage! Speaking from experience this trait can be a bit of a pain in emotional / relationship / romantic interest areas, my own solution is to act before I think too much. If there is a person I like to talk to them as soon as possible and figure out if they are interested or not. Whatever the answer, my mind does not get time to make up situations this way and I don't waste time on people who are not interested.

To be honest, its not bad to think about hypothetical situations, however, it is bad to let those thoughts cloud your judgement and sway you from whats right and wrong.

Redirect my focus to the realities of the situation and remind myself that negative hypotheticals aren't productive.

A good friend of mine tells me constantly, "that's story" meaning that it is a hypothetical situation, it is not currently happening. I started repeating that to myself when I noticed I was thinking about something past or future, and it helped me to put down the story, and recognize the moment for what it is. It's a constant learning process, but every little bit helps!

All situations are hypothetical really, you just have to remain positive and think of the good ones.