Hello, everyone, I have a problem that's been bugging me for the past couple of months, for you it may seem silly, but to a chronic overthinker such as myself, I've been wondering what exactly wrong with me. Am I a "Worrywort?". You see it all started with me talking with this girl I met online from another country. She's nice and we've had our ins and outs but we managed to always talk things over. We're cool now, however, before we even talked things out, we had a big argument via text. As I was scrolling on my phone to show her pictures of my current situation to better help her understand, I made a mistake and clicked on the photo containing my personal information which also contained my mother's social security number, but it was small, however if you zoomed in, you could still see it. I panicked to the point of my whole body catching the shivers, I've made a dumb mistake and it was out of my power to fix it. She also said she " Hated Me" which made it even worse, but what was done was done. In my mind, at the time I wasn't planning on talking to her anymore, and that everything was done. I blocked her and was going to move on...But then A thought crossed my mind that's been nagging me ever since, what she uses my mother's Social Security for herself, that would put my mother in danger of identity theft and it would be all my fault, so maybe I should add her back and talk with just to see if she really was going to do something like that. Well, I unblocked her and she asked why I said I was sorry which kind of went both ways you know. I was sorry for arguing and most importantly I wanted to check and see if she going to talk about what I feared the most. That she was going to use my mother's information for herself and other expenses. Well...Many months pass and not even a hint of it was said, she's also not the type of person that would do something like that, she's a Christian and God-fearing woman. I have no proof of the matter, but the irrational thoughts within my mind egging me on, to a what-if scenario that won't happen. We talk all the time now, and are better friends than we were before, but why am I still having these irrational thoughts popping up throughout the day saying that my mother's information is in jeopardy? Am worrying over nothing. My mother's fine, nobody has called about anything of the sort, but why does my mind linger towards such a harsh time that has been completely dissolved. Could it be because I had a panic attack about that, I never been so distraught and scared in my entire life. Or is that I can't forgive myself for the mistake that was made...Everyone makes mistakes...I know that..but why can't I move past a simple what-if that will won't come to be.
-Thanks for taking the time to read about my petty problem.-
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Anxiousnaruto123
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Not a petty problem if it is disrupting your enjoyment of life such as you describe.
I have struggled in the same way for most of my life. For me, it was a mystifying feeling that I was a mistake if I made a mistake of any degree. My own thoughts like this would immobilize me from moving forward into purposeful activity. Interestingly I tweeted something the other day on this very topic.
Glad to hear you still both enjoy your friendship - what a wonderful blessing you are to each other
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, also for taking the time to read about my problem. Just know that I'm going to keep moving forward, and you should too.
I am not sure about others but when I make mistake, especially a public mistake, I can really go over the edge with it. My mind sometimes will latch onto it and I cannot let it go.
I am also a chronic over thinker and this is not a pleasant way of living. I am not really sure why some mistakes are worse than others. I can make some mistakes and I can let them go but some others I cannot. Shame, guilt not really sure.
The fact is that people make mistakes and it should be ok that I sometimes make mistakes too.
I am a chronic over thinker too. I go to the worst possible scenario in my mind and I’m busy trying to solve the problem that has nit even happened. I think this comes with the ptsd territory. I’m doing it less now the more I’ve been in therapy but I well remember the days when I would have planned to go out to say the supermarket. I’d then run through every possible scenario of danger I might face in doing something others do without even thinking about it. For them it’s a normal part of life for me it meant being out in public where I might be triggered and an alter might take over. What would that alter do when it was out, would it stay safe, would someknein the general public attack me. I know all this things are irrational but none the less they were/are very real to me. I was terrified of making mistakes as well and trauma has left me with a speech impediment and I worry that I might go mute at a time when someone speaks to me. Your fear is a feeling, don’t push it away because if you do that it will pop back up somewhere else. I have been being coached to just let the feeling be there while at the same time concentrating on my breath, in what I can see, hear, feel, taste. The five senses and when I do this the feeling does pass. And the panic dissipates.
You made an error, humans make errors everyday. To err is human to forgive (including ourselves) is divine.
I’m not an over thinker in general but I get caught on one thing that may have been a mistake and I can’t let go of it. If I do anything about it though it usually makes things worse. That’s just me. I have to distract myself from it but it’s soooo hard.
My grandma always said perfection is not an option. This has been my mantra my whole life. It keeps me moving forward. I’m giving it to you if you’d like to use it.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me...I'll be sure to use your Grandmother's wisdom....To better help myself. I think that's it, I'm always trying to reach a certain type of perfection, and I need to understand that no one's perfect.
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