12 Struggles Only Overthinkers Can Understand

Do you get stressed out when making a decision? Do you think every billboard you pass is sending you a message? Are you constantly second-guessing yourself? Do you spend hours looking up symptoms on the internet and end up diagnosing yourself with a fatal disease? If this sounds like you, it might be time to admit it: you’re an overthinker.

 Heavily weighing every option before making a decision, then wondering if you made the right decision, can take a toll on you emotionally, mentally and physically. Constant overthinking can lead to stress and negativity. There are ways to free yourself from overthinking, but making a change isn’t easy. Especially if you’ve been this way all of your life.

If you’re an overthinker, you’ll relate to these 12 struggles:

1. You Tend To Escalate Your Problems

As an overthinker, a small issue can turn into a life-changing problem in just a matter of minutes. What if the zit on your forehead ruins your presentation and then you get fired? If you get fired then you won’t be able to afford your apartment and you’ll have to move back home while you look for a new job! Classic overthinker.

2. You Seek Meaning

From creating conspiracy theories to finding number sequences, you seek meaning in absolutely everything. If something happens, you believe there is a meaning behind it, and it’s trying to tell you something.

3. You Can’t Let Go Of The Past

You have an extremely hard time letting go of the past because you can’t stop thinking about it. Regrets that you have, mistakes that you’ve made, you carry them around with you. You constantly replay situations over and over again in your head and wonder what you could’ve said or done differently.

4. You Second Guess Yourself

You have a difficult time making decisions. When you finally do make a decision, you spend your time wondering if you made the right choice. Making decisions stresses you out.

5. You Have Difficulty Sleeping

With the stress you accumulate during the day, falling asleep at night is almost impossible. Your brain is extremely active at night and you can’t turn it off. You may desperately want to sleep, but your mind has other plans.

6. You Are Your Own Worst Critic

You’re pretty hard on yourself. If you think you said or did the wrong thing, you’re your own worst critic. When you make a mistake, you force yourself to remember the experience so you won’t make the same mistake twice.

7. You Tend To Misinterpret Things

You get offended pretty easily. Friends, family and co-workers have to watch what they say around you because you tend to take things the wrong way. You’re constantly worried that someone is criticizing you or looking down on you.

8. You Are Unsure Of Everything

Being happy doesn’t come easily for you, because you’re never sure if you’re in the right place or doing the right thing. Your overthinking makes it difficult for you to find happiness.

9. Social Media Stress You Out

Social media is just another form of stress for you. If someone unfollows you, you can’t sleep until you figure out why. Did you do something to offend them? Do they not like you anymore?

10. You Overthink Text Messages And E-mails

If you’re writing something, it might as well be written in stone. You constantly write and re-write texts and e-mails before sending them. After you send them, you second-guess what you wrote.

10. Negative Thoughts Overwhelm You

You want to be a positive person, but you’re often weighed down by your thoughts. Your mind always go to the worst scenario and negativity tends to overwhelm you.

12. Your Brain Constantly Circles

Your mind tends to run through the same situations over and over again, but you end up with different conclusions each time. You’re replacing your words or actions to find out what the result could have or would have been if you acted differently.

source and courtesy: David Wolfe; http://www.e-buddhism.com/