How do I learn to live in real life and not in my head?

I am really glad you asked this question because this is something that a lot of people struggle with! Usually when people are overthinking things they are struggling with negative feelings over something that they did or something that occurred in the past and then they have negative feeling chemicals released every time they think of the future. Those things that happened in the past cause us anxiety or dread. However, it isn't actually what happened that made the person have negative feelings about the past, it is how they viewed what happened. Almost everyone has things from their past that they have an "over response" too.

For instance, say someone has an experience when they are 7 years old where they did something embarrassing. When they look at that experience from an adult's perspective they often judge themselves from an adult perspective. When in reality the behavior was not unusual behavior for a 7 year old. They might even be able to see another 7 year old do the same behavior and excuse it as normal for that developmental level. However, when it comes to ourselves we can judge ourselves more harshly. Randomly this event will come into the adult's mind and they will have accompanying thoughts like, "I am so stupid" or something similarly negative. The negative feelings that are produced during that thought will carry through to other areas of their adult life and reinforce the idea that they are "stupid". The more they reinforce how they interpret that event the more they are parallyzed about the future. This can become an obsession with living in the past and fear of the future, so they aren't free to live in the moment.

It is important to look at the things that we think about squarely in the face and learn to tell ourselves the "truth". I personally like to recommend positive psychology here where we turn the negative thing into something positive until it actually produces positive chemicals when we think about it. Along with this, gratitude excercises help us focus on the present and what is working in the moment. This also gives us positive feelings about the future. Most people have been thinking negative thoughts so long that they need someone else to help them see the past and future for what it is. Doing this will help them change how they think until they can accept the situation, accept themselves, and anticipate the future. This is how we can best live in the moment.