I’ve found that as someone with anxiety and who is a chronic overthinking, my knee jerk instinct is to react. To make a change or do “something” in order to correct the thoughts and feelings. However, sometimes that makes things worse. Sitting still and finding a way to intercept the overthinking spiral is so challenging. I share a few pieces of wisdom that I am leaning on during a day where I’m having a hard time sitting still.
Cadre: I am someone with anxiety, but I'm also a crippling overthinker. He says a meme on Instagram made him feel validated and grounded. It says it's okay to just not. Even if some days I wish I was having more of an impact.
Hi, Cadre. I've said before in previous videos that I am someone with anxiety, but I'm also a crippling overthinker. And the way that you can sometimes think of anxiety is there's always a healthy dose of stress. It motivates us to do things. It sort of is the gas in the tank that gets tasks done or keeps us on schedule. But it does sort of get to a level that can be crippling and taking away from quality of life. But from an overthinking perspective, when you get a thought or you hear something or you just see something, and it's one trial after another in your head, and it just completely spirals.
And sometimes you can manifest something or conjure up a feeling or a thought that literally has nothing to do with what is actually happening in reality. So because of that and this life that I've lived, I'm constantly, go, go, go. I have a really hard time sitting still. And in this current stage of my life, I'm having some days where I feel very fine and validated in sitting still kind of waiting, and other days where it's completely tearing me apart. And today is one of those days where I am having a really hard time accepting my life as it is right now and not trying to do something or move the pedal forward.
And I saw this meme on Instagram, and whether, you know, social media, Instagram, or TikTok can be toxic or not, this one actually made me feel really validated and grounded. And it said something along the lines of, you're not lazy, you're not unmotivated after living a life in survival mode, you're just tired. And that really hit me, because so much of where I'm at right now and me wishing I was doing more or thinking what I should be doing, all those should be's, you know, it made me feel okay to be tired, to take a step to the side and just sit on the bench for a little bit.
Even if some days I wish I was having more of an impact or I was growing more or I was learning more or I was doing something, like, truly fulfilling, it's good practice to just not. At least for someone like me, I'm continuously being told and what this meme sort of says, that it's okay to just not. And I wanted to share that with you. For anybody else who also is an overthinker or somebody else who also finds themselves in this purgatory phase of life without a lot of direction, but even when you're at sea without a paddle, you're still floating somewhere.
And sometimes with the sail open, you just end up where you're supposed to end up. And that's really what I'm trying to capture and what I'm really trying to remember on days like today. So hopefully, by sharing this, if you're having a day like me or if you've had a day like me in the recent past, these little tidbits can at least help you feel grounded to move through the rest of the day and on to the next one.
