5 Things To Tell Yourself When You Start To Over-Think & Worry Everything

We probably all know that I'm a serial worrier and over-thinker at this point as it's something that I've written about time and time again. But something that I've never written about is the things that I constantly tell myself when I start to fall into a spiral of despair so here they are if you're a fellow worrier.

YOU'RE SUCH A SMALL PART OF THIS WORLD

That's a little bit of a bruise to the ego, isn't it? One of the easiest thought patterns to fall into is that your world is so big and all consuming and everyone is paying attention to what you're doing. But in reality, we're one tiny human being and there is as of right now 7.5 billion other people in the world. That is a lot of people, isn't it? And that's not even taking into account the animal kingdom. Last year when I went through a really bad patch with my mental health something that really opened my eyes was watching a David Attenborough documentary, it made me realise just how huge the world is outside of my own little world and how really insignificant I am ultimately [it's self-depreciating I know but it's true]. When you worry and overthink it's so consuming that you forget just how big the world is and remembering that somehow puts things a little more in perspective.

NO-ONE IS THINKING ABOUT YOU AS MUCH AS YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF

I think it's probably pretty safe to say we all think about ourselves a lot on a daily basis and there isn't anything wrong with that. As a serial overthinker and somebody who used to care far too much about what other people had to say about me, I know how easy it is to lose yourself to what other people might be thinking. Maybe it's something that comes with age as 21-year-old Rebecca used to stay up worried about what other people were thinking but now I couldn't care less. No-one is ever thinking about us as much as our overthinking mind might make us believe. Even when people scrutinise our choices and actions it's soon forgotten about and life goes on.

YOU CANNOT CHANGE WHAT YOU'VE ALREADY DONE

We all make mistakes, it's part of life and for the most part, they are never that serious that we need to dwell on them for weeks. And when they are they can never be changed with worry. It's a horrible downward spiral that so often can consume our lives and even though the logical part of our brains knows that we can't change anything the not so rational part of us can't process that. The only thing that we do have control over is our future and what we're doing in the now and that is what is so important to focus on.

NEVER SIT ON YOUR THOUGHTS FOR TOO LONG

Something that I'm not good with is sharing how I truly feel and I tend to sit on my thoughts for a little too long. And I don't think talking to a loved one is something that works for everybody as sometimes it feels too hard to get the words out. So things like journalling and writing to nobody are two things that I think can work so well when you're really feel crushed by worry. By doing this we can get everything out of our mind and don't ever have to worry about someone else judging us from all the strange things that run through our brains.

YOUR LIFE IS FOR YOU

We all more than likely have people in our lives who we love, care about and want to make happy. But your life is for yourself and you have to do what is right for you, sometimes it's really uncomfortable to say no and not meet the needs of other people first but if it's going to make you seriously unhappy it's not the right thing to do in the long run. We're a nation of people pleasers and sometimes it's a really beautiful thing to be so kind and caring to others but sometimes it can be incredibly damaging living to please others.