How do I stop anxiety induced by overthinking?

Even good days have a catch. I'm waiting for the catch. I don't even have a clean name for it. I just know it keeps running the day. Therapy helped me name it. My body didn't get the memo as fast as my vocabulary did. I keep finding essays that sound right and still don't change Tuesday morning. Curious how other people live with this without turning it into their whole personality.

Peer discussion on askDr.app. Not therapy and not a substitute for professional care.

38

7

487

7 comments

Log in to comment.

u/diego_santos 23d ago
What you are overthinking about are circumstances your brain considers the worst. We do that to ourselves — worst-case scenarios. Label the thought and ask: is this likely? Is this in my control?
19
- u/daniel_cho 23d ago
  I needed this today more than I want to admit.
  7
u/theo_ramirez 23d ago
The 3 a.m. version of my brain is a terrible narrator. Daytime me has to clean up after it.
8
- u/aisha_r 23d ago
  Saving this. I've been circling the same thought for months.
  3
u/malik_j 23d ago
I started naming it — 'that's anxiety, not a prophecy' — and it sounds cheesy until it works.
3
u/notfine_thanks 23d ago
Cold water on my wrists is an unglamorous trick that actually short-circuits the spiral for me.
2
- u/owen_blake 23d ago
  I needed this today more than I want to admit.
  1