Hats off to my husband, friends and family who all know that having me in their life means signing up for constant counseling sessions as I get paralysed over the most mundane of situations.
Whether it’s tossing up work conundrums, trying to pick lunch off a too-delicious menu or ruminating over things I’ve said or done, it’s abundantly clear that I have a bad case of overthinker-itis. Sure I come across as pretty cool, calm and collected, but dally in my brain for a moment and you’ll often find a case of serious – and unnecessary – rumination.
So I’ve compiled a list to help you work out if you suffer the same syndrome, but also to serve as a reminder for myself of the common circumstances where I get all worked up about, well, nothing much.
- You wake up in the night with a racing pulse over a tiny incident during the day, like whether you replied to a friend’s text.
- You re-read every email you send, like, a million times. And often send it to friends/boyfriends/colleagues to read over as well.
- You exchange more purchases than anyone you know after making a spontaneous decision, then realising it was wrong. Oh, and you second-guess whether you bought the right gift for someone – and often exchange that too.
- You apologise to friends for potentially offending them but they don’t even recall said blunder.
- You fret about what you said when you were on the wines. Did you prattle on? Did you make conversation all about yourself? Did you dance? God, did you dance?