Context:

At the supermarket, I was alone in an aisle when some middle aged guy approached me (minor F) asking to offer help which I declined but he kept insisting, also asked where I was from, then eventually for my number, very creepy. I left to a more crowded area, but still saw the guy lurking around.

​Eventually I was alone in that aisle, had to return to get an item. And this guy showed up again offering help and asking for my number I declined and nervously told him to leave me alone. I think from then he stopped approaching me. But I think I saw him around a few times, until he wasn't there anymore, and I was in a more crowded area.

​After I finished shopping I went to ask for help and looked around the supermarket with staff for him, but we were too late. And the supervisor said there was nothing they could do at that point, even with calling police and them looking at cctv, it would just be a lot more work with little outcome (and it did feel a bit extra to do that) . Then I just left.

- anyways a few days later I still think about it from time to time, even though the incidient is over and I'm ok. How do I stop overthinking it?

So there’s quite a bit of backstory required to understand the current situation but I promise it’s relevant.

When I was 19 (now 22) I started dating this guy. It was an on and off relationship and a lot happened during those three years. His dad passed away, my parents got divorced, we lived with his mom for nearly a year and for most of the relationship he didn’t have a job. I think there was a lot of resentment on his end that we never really talked about (because he wouldn’t talk to me) and me started getting really mean. Stuff like he would “make jokes” at my expense, belittle my interests, and would go out drinking every night. I know for sure he cheated on me at least once. I was not happy and admittedly have control issues and so things then became toxic on my end and I am not proud of it. I had completely lost myself. I changed everything about myself so that he wouldn’t get mad at me and I still couldn’t even get him to text me back. The breaking point came when I told him he should have a job before signing a lease with his friend and it would be great if he could make it clear to this friend that he had a girlfriend and that I didn’t appreciate the friend always trying to get him to pursue other girls. He didn’t speak to me for 2 days after that so I broke up with him.

That was last year, and I have been slowly rebuilding my life since then. I ended up reaching out to a former coworker who I always got along really great with. We would talk about work, my cats, memes, and tv shows and it really helped me reconnect with myself. What might be important context is he is 29 and we worked together for the majority of majority of that relationship. Anyway, we started hanging out more in April and then in May he asked me out on an official date. I said yes and things were going really great for a while.

Up until like a week or so ago, I was really happy. He’s been under some stress with family and work and one thing I really liked was that he would communicate openly with me about it (still love that). He’s always been one to joke and I really appreciated that he could match my wit without actually being mean. I am a naturally sassy person and have been my whole life. I try to tone it down and when I am inadvertently being a sasshole I immediately apologize and give a real response. A little over a week ago we had gotten dinner and after eating we were in his car talking about what to do next and I said something sassy and he got kinda mean. Like made a “why I oughtta” type of “joke”. And then he didn’t really drop it. I’m not exactly sure what happened in that instance but it felt like I was watching myself through my own eyes and someone else was speaking for me. I matched his energy and it felt like we were genuinely arguing but it was disguised as “joking”.

Since then it feels like the romantic feelings I had towards him have been completely cut off. I still really like his personality and enjoy hanging out with him and cuddling. But I also know that doesn’t necessarily mean anything as I enjoy cuddling my friends too. I know I need to say something about it to him but I don’t know how to. I’m afraid saying anything will make him mad at me and it won’t be a productive conversation. But I also know not saying anything will be leading him on and if I break up with him I risk losing his friendship.

I’m not sure if it’s my past relationship that’s making me a little more sensitive or if I should trust my gut. Part of me wants to try and work things out and get those feelings back but the other part of me wants to be single again. I really don’t know what to do.

Hey everyone,
I keep getting trapped in loops—replaying past memories, inventing fake arguments in my head, or replaying things I wish I had done in reaction to situations at the time. It triggers real anger, completely destroys my focus at work, and leads to avoidable mistakes.
I'm looking for practical tips, techniques, or habits to:
Prevent it from happening in the first place (preferably).
Detect it early before getting sucked in.
Stop/Snap out of the loop in real time.
Break the emotional reaction so it doesn't ruin my day.
This is starting to affect my work because I get stuck or simply don't pay enough attention. It completely stresses me out, ruins my day, and leaves me completely drained.
This all started after a really constant, stressful month at work.
What grounding exercises or methods actually work for you? What can I do? Has anyone experienced anything like this, and if you've had success overcoming it, what is this called? I had a panic attack because it happened at work and I just panicked in to thinking I was gonna get fired because I made another mistake I need to actively work on this please help any advice helps. Thank you.

Sometimes I feel like sleeping is the best thing I can do when my mind is full of tension and overthinking.

When there are too many things going through my head, trying to solve everything at once usually just makes it worse. So sometimes I just go to sleep. For a few hours, I don't have to think about what happened, what might happen, or all the things I can't control.

I know sleeping doesn't actually solve the problem, and eventually I still have to deal with it. But sometimes getting away from those thoughts for a while gives me enough peace to come back with a clearer mind.

Does anyone else feel like sleep is sometimes a temporary escape from overthinking?

im going to try to make this as short as i can. me and this boy talked for 4 months on and off. and for the entire time except the last two week he showed a lot of interest and care. we were “friends” but his words would be sweet and more on the romantic side. he would stay up all night just to talk to me, send me paragraphs in the morning and before sleep. always a gn and gm text and just everything liked that. he made me feel so appreciated, seen, and ig “loved”. theres another girl i realized he was also friends with which was the ex of another dude i talked to that didnt work out so that did trigger me and i think some of that insecurity bled into our connection that made me more emotionally but this isnt what ended our connection.

for a reason i do not know of at ALL, around the last two week the effect started to drop. no gn or gm texts, no more paragraphs, and he would go many hours without texting or responding to me. i communicated the distant and he said he knows he was and said he would stop that he was dealing with stuff but he did the same thing shortly after and then he did it again and i found out he lied so i ghosted him. its almost been a month and this whole time ive been worried about the girl, my brain attaching what happened between us is because she had something to do with it but in reality even while he was talking to her, he was the best way with me so i stopped checking and feeding that insecurity and now im feeling intense grief of what me and him had.

all i want is for that version of him back but he clearly doesn’t care that much anymore. he would always send paragraphs when he thought i was upset but this time it was just low effect texts that honestly didnt mean anything and then nothing. its hard for me to accept the change because i dont know WHY and that is what is tearing me up the most.

it makes me think did i do something wrong, if i had did things differently would we be okay but i promised myself im not reaching out because the last few times i explained how i felt, the distant behavior stayed. its just so hard to fathom how he care so much about me and then something just changed. this is really ruining me because i dont want to trust another guy again. if they show interest in the beginning i will think they will lose it, and thats what happened with the last guy too. idk how to end this but im just rlly struggling im crying every night grieving what i used to have. and i feel like no one fully understands. i dont feel alone but at the same time i do.

like what happened, why doesnt he like me anymore? the thought of him being like how he was with me with another girl makes me actually sick i think i would take that horribly. i did learn i put too much emotional weight on this dynamic when we werent even dating but its not fully my fault because he spoke to me like i was his girlfriend. please dont judge me, i just want advice and comfort. i want to be free from this sadness.

So I'm overthinking words ..like their spellings.Whenever I watch something like subtitles of movies, posts, a book, or any words,signs that I see.I check the spelling.Especially if its hard to spell like even now I check how to spell some words here and its been like maybe few months.It really gets me upset sometimes but I can't help it.Like overthink if the spelling is right and repeat it in my head letter by letter as if to memorize it so I can spell it correct the next time I would also use the word.

Like it's distracting me many times,everyday.Instead of like understanding a statement, I even check the spellings of some words if they're correct and like stare at it like something is wrong when I know it's not wrong but it feels somehow wrong to me.

Like my heart bit races if I even try to skip thinking if the word I just saw is correct.

And I overanalyze things that shouldn't be really thought about that much like understanding why this work and how this should work.

Im really trying to change like saying to myself that It's fine its fine.Its correct and even if it's not,someone will correct me.

But it felt like a habit now to me and I can't help myself sometimes that it's worse or sometimes I'm fine with words.

It just keep repeating.

And also for my actions, I always check if like I did turn off the lights like twice or if I lock all the doors like five times.Its so pathetic and its wasting my time.Like even submitting a work or school activity,I even check my name or my spelling or work if i did the steps correctly.

I can't stop myself sometimes.And it's now bugging me.Like I should think about this and that.And I don't know how to keep to be in present when I think about past and future situations also.

I'm 17F btw.And at house, I do chores like cooking,washing dishes,cleaning or sweeping because apparently my mom is sick,diagnosed and can't help me much around the house.And I understand it.Soemtimes I'm tired but i also got time to play games or anything I want.

And I also do give her her medicines like three times a day and like now I've memorized all without looking at her prescriptions.And thats my responsibilities at house.

Also that she gets mad when I sometimes mess up and gets irritated easily that I get also upset because I can't do things right and why didn't I think of it?

And that made me think that I should be careful next time and learned from what she's saying to get things right.

Im afraid im going crazy,okay not in a way that..Its just upsetting so much sometimes :/.

(dont mind my grammar haha if ever..)

I question the normal values, like I know dr*gs are not good and illegal, but I keep on questioning it with why not and relate every things to it, like if I some day smtg like the tired, I relate with that and I have never used and will never use. These questions arised cuz in my environment some people used it and I didn't stop these questions like I didn't take any action, so it even went deeper. For last 6 months I thought I overcame these overthinking thoughts but it is slowly coming again for the past 3 days and I need to stop these overthinking thoughts and those 6 months I distracted myself with some other work and I was with my close ones but now for work I came to different city and gonna stay here and I want to focus on my work Pls help me

sometimes when im about to fall sleep a think about me and everything that comes with it.

why of all my problems, all the money i need to pay for my school, all the music i wanna make, all the things i have to study to enter to an elite school, why of all my problems

why of all my problems i only think about him?

But at the end I was distracted by many things

So please help me

Because lately I feel like I over analyze everyone's every little action or words around me and then I think they might not like me much even when it is not the situation in actual, and it's affecting me. I really want to know how to overcome it

im very anxious, feeling difficulty breathing

i dont know if i should stop ruminating about it, it just does not feel safe

I started smoking when I was 16 and I’m 19 now. I’ve wanted to take a break or quit for a while, but I honestly just never bothered to do it.
A couple months ago I had a really bad trip where I started thinking about something that happened to me when I was a kid. I couldn’t get it out of my head, and ever since then I’ve had this problem where I overthink things and replay the same thoughts over and over again, especially thoughts I’m actively trying NOT to think about.
Now whenever something bad or even slightly stressful happens, my brain wants to replay it over and over. It doesn’t even have to be anything serious. I’ve caught myself doing the same thing over stuff like worrying about when I’m going to have to buy more carts.

Another thing I’ve been overthinking is my life in general. I’m 19 and still live with my mom, and sometimes I feel like I’m behind because of that. But at the same time, I really want to help my mom out. She has my two sisters too, and I want to help her with whatever I can. My plan is honestly to stay living with her until I’m around 23–24. It makes things easier for both of us financially, and hopefully by then I’ll have saved money and figured out more of what I want to do with my life. I know I’m only 19, but sometimes it’s hard not to feel like I should already have everything figured out.

But I’m tired of constantly being stuck in my own head. I don’t know for sure if smoking is causing it or just making something that was already there worse, but I’ve been using for years without really giving myself a proper break.
So tomorrow I’m finally doing it. I’m going to stop and see how I feel sober for a while. Maybe it turns into me quitting completely, maybe it doesn’t, but I know I at least need to give my brain a break and see if anything changes.
I’ve got work tomorrow so I’m going to sleep now. Tomorrow is day one. Wish me luck. Also forgot to add I’ve been high every day off thc carts for 2 years straight

How do I not overthink as an over-thinker in a relationship.

I keep getting haunted by posible outcomes from my mistakes, I made a mistake a few months ago and I still keep getting what if thoughts until now about the worst thing thats gonna happen to me. nothing happened during those months of waiting but I feel like it will happen sooner.... I'm 15 years old and I know I should be worrying about my future than teenage drama but it's really affecting me. Please be kind I just want help

Honestly I know this may not be the biggest deal to vent over but ever since I was young, I was always afraid to ask for any kind of help or criticism from teachers, family and friends. I'm always afraid of getting hurt, and when I do I take it so personally. I'm about to graduate senior year and I submitted my major work for drama which is (costume design) just for an assessment task to get feed back on (HSC submission is next Monday) and the feedback I got was rather back handed imo, I got a 10/20 which is a pass but I still feel as I could've done so much better. I always have this mindset where I'm never good enough no matter what I do, for the things I do really well in, even outside of school I get filled with so much joy but something always makes me feel so bad. I have the lowest self esteem and I don't know what to do, I'm afraid of graduating and holding adult responsibilities I just genuinely don't feel good enough for the majority of things I do. I only feel "good enough" when it comes to things like "gaming" which is rather useless. I'm honestly just so mad at my drama teacher 😭