Many human beings know what it is like to overthink, the fear of failing, the idea that everything is wrong if it does not perfectly work out, referring to when one dwells or worries about the same thought repeatedly. The main factors that can lead to overthinking are stress and anxiety. People all around the earth have these thoughts, making it negative because of how much it affects a person’s                                            

experience and engagement with the world around them. Signs of overthinking include the inability to think about anything else, being unable to relax, and constantly feeling worried or anxious. Overthinking can affect one’s personal life, and social life, most importantly causing emotional distress. Research from the ladders.com states that, “overthinking is destructive and mentally draining. It can make you feel like you’re stuck in one place, and if you don’t act, it can greatly impact your day-to-day life.” It can quickly put your health and total well-being at risk.

 When someone is stuck in their head, thinking bad thoughts can become such a habit that an individual will not even recognize when they are doing it, challenging a person’s daily schedule making it tough for them to focus, Saugus student Alex Trebilcock informs, “Overthinking affects my daily schedule in many ways, one being it causes me to procrastinate almost everything I’m asked to do. In school, I overthink a lot of assignments, fearing I won’t do them well enough and stuff so I don’t even want to start on them.” School becomes more stressful everyday because of the inability to start things which then leads to people doing work at the last minute. Overthinking makes students fear failure and leads them to constantly stay in their comfort zone, with dismissive thoughts and self-doubt. These ideas can make the youth assume negative consequences and jump to false conclusions, obviously leading to arguments with your partner who might feel upset for being misunderstood. Obsessing over false things and accusations impact many people’s mood, decreasing their self-esteem. In relationships, problems will be at hand with many children and teenagers all over the world, overthinking causing the most of it especially if they are the type of person who lives in the future or the past and aren’t able to be emotionally available for their partner at points in time.  Saugus student Aden Salazar expresses, “it could affect it by not trusting the loved one. As time goes on you start to think negatively about the relationship and could make you second guess abt it, leading to possibly a break up.”

Most people do not know how to fix the over-thinking mindset, but there are various ways an adolescent can do that, studies show that practicing gratitude shifts an individual’s attention away from negative emotions like resentment and envy. Distract yourself, when you realize you are starting to ruminate, finding a distraction can break your thought cycle, plan to take actions on readjusting one’s life goals. Work on self esteem since holding low self-confidence is one of the most common causes of overthinking, or try meditation to further calm and relax the brain.

Second-guessing decisions a person makes gives an individual the fear of commitment and outcome, people can start to reflect on why they are overthinking, question their thoughts and feelings so they can explore the truth behind a negative mindset, and to face their fears which helps create a stronger mental state.