How Overthinking kills Your Happiness?
Sometimes, you think about how you lost your money or jewellery. You may think you should have studied something else to get a good job. You may feel sorry for having said something to your spouse and have fears about being divorced. You may think you must not have spent so much money on a car when things go wrong.
Overthinking is not about past events but about the future too. Will you be able to stay on the job for a longer period? “What if I invest all my money in a project and end up as a loser?” “Will I be able to fund my child’s education expenses?” These types of thinking can destroy your peace of mind and happiness.
Here are some of the ways overthinking destroys your happiness?
1. Overthinking keeps You Occupied with Non-Productive Purposes
When you feel sad for all the bad incidents in your life, a decision that went wrong and worry about what the future has in store for you, you are engaged in thoughts that don’t bring any productivity in your job or life. If it persists, it can destroy your peace of mind.
2. You Let Opportunities Pass By
When you go on complaining or brooding over all the misfortunes that have happened to you, many opportunities that come to you are lost. You may never know how a misfortune or a weakness in you can be an opportunity to make money. Susan Kain, who was born in a family of introverts, wrote a best seller “Quiet-The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” rather than suffering silently.
3. You may Fall into Depression
Overthinking can lead you into mental depression. Worries, negative thoughts, sadness, regrets, anger, resentment can destroy your peace of mind and make you feel that nothing is alright with this world or yourself. If you are unable to seek timely help from a therapist, your situation could get worse.
4. You may have Fewer Friends and Rely on Alcohol
When overthinking causes emotional distress, you have no time to make friends or have quality time with them. This may cause you to rely on alcohol or drug abuse or take to excessive eating to overcome your stress. It can have serious consequences on your physical and mental health.
5. You can’t Get Good Sleep
You may require six hours of sleep daily to help your organs and brain to relax. But constantly worrying or expecting something bad to happen can come in the way of getting a good sleep. You may experience discomfort, have bad dreams associated with loss or failure or you may just toss around in bed.
6. You can’t See the Bright Side of things
If you overthink, then the chances are that you will have a pessimistic and sarcastic attitude to life. If someone suggests a good idea, you will reject it saying it won’t work. Developing a close mind is one of the drawbacks associated with overthinkers. You imagine that if you do something, it has more chances of failure than success.
Overthinkers not only worry about the big losses or misfortunes but even the small incidents in daily life. At a meeting where you told something wrong, you may feel you shouldn’t have talked at all. Or if you fail in a test, you blame yourself but don’t find out the reasons why you couldn’t achieve. When your investment fails, you curse your bad luck but not make an effort to learn what went wrong.
