What Does Over Analyzing Mean?
When you take a look at the over analyzing definition, you see that it is actually quite similar to overthinking and that is exactly what you’d conclude about yourself the moment you read a few quotes about over analyzing.
So, if someone asked you what over analyzing is, what would you tell them? What is the real over analyzing meaning?
Well, if you are to define over analyzing, you’d say it is a state of mind in which you dissect everything that is happening to you, the state of mind in which you constantly worry about the future and in which you always think about the worst possible outcome.
It is a condition in which you can’t help but assume things, in which you have a bad habit of looking for deeper meaning even when everything is clear, when you are obsessed with irrelevant stuff such as social media and other people’s opinions of you and when you have trouble letting go of even the little things.
It is one thing if you’re someone who worries more than a regular person and something completely different if these worries become your obsessions and start taking over your life completely.
It is one thing if you’re not a spontaneous person who has a habit of going with the flow and it is something completely different if you never make a move or a decision in your life unless you spend days or even weeks analyzing it.
If the latter is something you can relate to, you are without doubt an over analyzer.
Just keep on scrolling because you’re about to read 5 sure-fire signs that you do suffer from this disorder.
5 Warning Signs You’re Suffering From An Over Analyzing Disorder
One of the most famous over analyzing quotes says: ‘I over analyze situations because I’m scared what will happen if I’m not prepared for it’.
And when you come to think of it, this is exactly what’s going on inside your head—you are convinced that your overthinking gives you some kind of power and a special type of control.
You might not be aware of this but deep down, you’re convinced that you’ll be able to prevent some awful things from happening and that you will be able to avoid them if you just plan them ahead carefully enough.
However, living like this only gives you short-term reassurance and peace but it makes your life way harder in the long run.
With time, you get used to having control over everything and you assume that you have to analyze all of your life choices to the core, otherwise everything will go to hell.
If this is something you can relate to, one thing is clear—you’re without a doubt suffering from an over analyzing disorder and here are the bulletproof signs that you’re a real control freak.
You spend more time thinking than doing
The first clue that you’re dealing with over analyzing anxiety is the fact that you spend most of the time inside of your own head, thinking about things instead of taking concrete action and making moves on them.
You’re an over-thinker who is too busy with your thoughts to the point where you end up doing nothing about them.
The truth is that your thoughts distract you to the point where you completely lose touch with the present moment and get overwhelmed with all of the could-have-beens, should-have-beens and might-have-beens.
Looking at things realistically, you actually spend most of your free time overanalyzing everything, starting with your past relationships, the text messages you’re getting, social media, other people’s lives, many a different social situation and your relations with your loved ones.
Instead of living your life in the real world, you actually spend it trapped in your own head and without even noticing it, you let it slip in next to you just like that.
You’re obsessed with hypothetical situations
Another sure-fire sign you’re suffering from an over analyzing anxiety disorder is the fact that you spend most of your free time thinking about everything that might happen.
You’re disrupting your inner peace by being obsessed with all the possible outcomes of a certain situation and all the ways it could go wrong.
Not only that—you usually go as far as thinking about all the hypothetical situations which are, to be honest, nowhere near possible to actually happen or come true.
You waste your energy on thinking about little things, other people’s lives and every possibility which is unlikely to happen instead of thinking about your real life problems.
Even before you engage in a new relationship, you automatically go ahead in time and think about all of its possible outcomes.
On the one hand, this is a good thing because it shows you’re a mature person who thinks about your moves and who plans ahead.
However, if you’re overreacting and if the potential future becomes your obsession, one thing is for sure—you have a problem and it’s about time you start handling it before it becomes too late.
You think about the past and the future more than the present
You’re definitely an overthinker if you spend much time in the past and in the future, without being aware that you can’t affect it.
You don’t know how to enjoy the present moment and instead, you contemplate everything that has happened before it, without realizing that there is nothing you can do to change history and without realizing it’s about time to leave the past exactly where it belongs—behind you.
Instead of living in the present moment or thinking about your short-term plans, you’re overwhelming yourself with distant future and attempts to predict it.
Somehow, you’ve managed to convince yourself that you’ll be able to prevent bad things from happening to you if you predict them in time and if you expect them well prepared.
Well, I hate to be the one to break it to you but this won’t happen.
Living your life like this won’t help you accomplish anything besides giving yourself a bad headache.
You always expect the worst outcome
Another one of the warning signs that your overthinking ness is affecting your life is your pessimism and the negativity you keep dragging yourself into.
Whether you like to admit it or not, the truth is that no matter what happens, at the end of the day, you always expect the worst possible case scenario.
Even when all the odds are in your favor, you can’t help but think that sooner or later something will go downhill and that you should be prepared for the worst.
This applies to everything in your life: your social situations, the relationship you have with your loved ones, your past relationships, etc.
You simply can’t relax and there always exists a tiny voice in the back of your head, telling you that being optimistic is a bad thing and that you’ll be better off if you prepare yourself for everything to fail.
You’re convinced that this way, you’ll be positively surprised if things go the way they should and you won’t be shocked if the worst possible outcome turns out to be true.
Of course, all of this impacts on your self-esteem pretty badly, as well.
You assume that you’re awful at everything and that everything you set your mind to is doomed to fail.
Instead of believing in yourself, you give up before you even start working on something because what’s the point of even trying if everything will collapse in one way or another?
You don’t take things at face-value
According to you, there always exists a hidden meaning to things and almost everyone has a secret agenda you must get to the bottom of.
There is always something that needs to be analyzed and interpreted in a different way and you think taking something at face-value is a huge mistake which will eventually cause your downfall.
Well, let me tell you one thing: seeing things like this is definitely one of the warning signs that you might be an over thinker.
You’re always doubting people’s intentions and you never believe that things are the way they seem at first glance.
Instead, you assume that everyone wants to harm you in some sneaky way and you keep on spending time dissecting someone’s intentions and trying to interpret the hidden meaning of their mixed signals, even if there is nothing for you to analyze and even if everything is more than clear.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying that everyone deserves your trust or that you should let everyone completely in, without trying to figure them out.
Yes, there are situations where you should listen to your gut but sometimes, things and people really are exactly what and who they seem to be.
In conclusion, spending this much time overthinking and over analyzing relationships with other people and your relationship with yourself has brought you nothing good.
In fact, it has destroyed your self-esteem, your relations with others and more importantly, it has heavily impacted on your emotional and mental health.
It is more than clear that you need to stop overanalyzing if you want to be happy. But how to do it?
Where to start? You can’t just order yourself to stop over analyzing, can you now?
Well, fear not because we’re giving you completely free access to a step by step guide to help yourself stop with the over analyzing as soon as possible and to heal yourself from this disorder.
10 Ways To Stop Over Analyzing If You Want To Be Happy
Get out of your head
If you’re wondering how to stop over analysing, you should definitely follow the number one piece of advice from more than one psychologist and best-selling author on this topic: do everything you can to escape your own thoughts!
Instead of spending time inside your head, the first thing you need to do if you want to stop over analyzing is to get in touch with the real world.
It’s time to stop staring at your phone, time to drop the social media and text messages, to forget about other people’s intentions and motives and to start doing things which make you happy.
Forget about analyzing relationships, forget about what will happen with your career, forget about other people.
Go out there and do the things you’ve always wanted to do and for once, don’t think about the consequences.
For once, be impulsive and spontaneous and get rid of anxiety over analyzing!
Yes, this is much easier said than done but you have your life in your own hands and it’s about time you take real control over it.
It’s about time you start making yourself happy!
Accept that there doesn’t exist perfection
According to a New York-based best selling author, people who keep on overanalyzing everything actually strive for perfection and this chase to have everything in perfect order is actually causing you this anxiety disorder.
If you are an over analyzer, it means that you probably do your best to think everything through in order to avoid failure and to prevent things going the way they shouldn’t.
Therefore, you being the one who created this bad habit of over thinking and over analyzing, you’re also the one who needs to put a stop to it.
And what is a better way to do so than to start with accepting that there doesn’t exist such a thing as perfection and that you’re only wasting your time and energy by trying to achieve it?
Instead of being so hard on yourself and everyone around you, give yourself a break.
Accept that everyone, including you, has some flaws and that those flaws and imperfections make us all unique and special.
Stop obsessing about the future
Let’s face it—we would all like to have a free access card to our distant future.
We’d all like to have a look at what awaits us and a chance to change some things today which might improve our tomorrow.
However, sadly, things usually don’t go that way.
The truth is that our life choices can affect many of the things that await us but not a single person alive can have total control over their destiny.
No matter how hard you try, you can’t have influence over all of life’s circumstances.
So why don’t you stop trying to do so, when you know very well that not everything is in your hands?
You want to make your life easier, right? So why do you keep over analyzing if you want to be happy?
Why do you keep racking your brains about what might happen next when you know very well you can’t choose your own faith and your own future?
All you can do is hope for the best and prepare yourself for whatever is coming.
Don’t get me wrong, it is one thing to make short-term plans and to have goals in life.
But it is something completely different to be anxious about the distant future, of which you know you can’t have any impact whatsoever.
So, the next time you catch yourself having these thoughts, just let it be and see what happens.
For once, clear your mind, try going with the flow and see where it brings you. I promise you that you’re up for a hell of a journey!
Let go of the past
Letting go of the past is one of the most difficult things all of us have to find a way of doing.
But it is something you simply have to do if you want to stop over analyzing and if you want to keep yourself sane.
Remember that everything happens for a reason and your past is no exception.
Everything that you went through shaped you into the person you are today.
I know that some toxic people from your past and some things they’ve done to you are still haunting you.
You might be obsessed with some of your wrong moves and things you wish you had a chance of doing differently as well.
Either way, the point is the same—you can’t change anything that has already happened, as much as you try doing so.
You don’t have the ability to erase some people or events from your memory and you’re only hurting yourself by attempting to do that.
However, what you can do is not allow your past to define you or control you.
You can stop trying to change it, you can escape its prison, you can let it go and do your best to move on from it.
Accept that there are some things and some people out of your control
The same way you need to accept that you need to let go of the past and of your expectations about the future, you also need to learn to accept that some things are simply out of your control.
You’re not almighty, you can’t affect all of life’s circumstances and you can’t control how other people behave or even treat you.
More importantly—you can’t save everyone.
Yes, you might help them in the short-term but your love can’t change anyone who doesn’t want to be changed.
So, instead of racking your brains about other people, focus on yourself.
Focus on the way everyone and everything around you impacts on you and your mood.
Focus on your mental health and finding your own balance because at the end of the day, you’re the only one who matters and the one who should put yourself above everyone else.
Redirect your thoughts
Redirecting your thoughts from all your analysis and from all the overthinking is the key to salvation. However, this is easier said than done, right?
We’d all like to have a little switch in our brain which helps us turn off the thoughts that make us anxious and turn on the happy ones.
Even though things don’t work this way, there exists a way which can help you redirect your thoughts.
First and foremost, you have to surround yourself with positive people and move away from your toxic surroundings.
Secondly, you need to focus on making yourself feel better, without expecting someone else to do it for you.
If you are someone who over analyzes even the small things in life, I assume you’re constantly wondering about the future and you’re constantly questioning everything.
Even though being curious about life is great, the trick is to ask only the right type of questions.
How can I make myself happier? How can I improve my life? How can I adapt to a more positive mindset?
When you ask yourself the right type of questions, you’ll be too busy trying to answer them and you’ll have no time or energy left for unnecessary overthinking.
Work on your self-esteem
The next step in the process of overcoming your over analyzing problem is working on your self-assurances and self-confidence.
But how exactly does one become a more confident person?
Well, building self-assurances and self-esteem doesn’t happen overnight but they are things that can be achieved.
First and foremost, you have to learn to forget about your insecurities and learn to believe in yourself.
This can be done by putting small, short-term reachable goals in front of yourself.
Once you see that you’re able to achieve these small things, you’ll see that you can be successful with greater achievements, as well.
Instead of wasting all of your mental energy on all the things that went wrong and instead of beating yourself up over your failures, focus on the things you did right and on the accomplishments you managed to make.
Write a success diary
The best way to focus on your accomplishments is by writing a success diary, in which you’ll write about the things you’ve achieved and all about your successes every single day.
Remember that every accomplishment is huge and you shouldn’t ignore your baby steps.
Also, here you can write about all the times when you were proud of yourself for managing not to over analyze and about all the days you spent free of your overthinking ness.
About all the days you’ve spent without anyone or anyone destroying your inner peace and about all the times you’ve managed to defeat your over analyzing disorder.
Then, on a bad day, when you feel like you won’t make it, you can always go back to your diary and see for yourself how far you’ve gotten.
Trust me, it will help and this diary will often serve as the light at the end of the tunnel.
Surround yourself with trustworthy people
There are times when your over analyzing is actually nothing more than a consequence of your past experiences.
Maybe you’re over analyzing a relationship simply because you’ve been through a lot in the past and because life taught you that it is one of the ways to protect yourself from being hurt once more.
Well, if this is the case, one of the ways to help yourself is to surround yourself with people you trust.
Cut out everyone whom you can’t rely on one hundred percent and everyone whose intentions you’re doubting.
However, it is crucial to be as realistic as possible while doing this.
Who are the people who deserve your trust and the ones whose moves you analyze without an actual reason for doing so?
These are the people who deserve to have a place in your life and the ones you can relax next to.
On the other hand, who are the ones who have proven to be anything but trustworthy? The ones who have betrayed or backstabbed you in the past?
Let’s face it—the latter group of people is responsible for your overthinking problem.
So, wouldn’t it be easier to kick them out of your life instead of struggling with having to analyze them all the time and without having to be extra careful around them?
I know that breaking ties isn’t always easy but it’s time you put yourself first.
Remember that your mental health is your primary concern and that you should put it above anyone else!
Look for help
Having an over analyzing disorder is not easy and there is nothing shameful in asking for assistance with resolving this problem.
First and foremost, when you decide who is your person of trust, talk to them about your issues, without holding anything back.
Tell them that you’re working on your problem and that you could use a hand in this process.
They don’t have to actually do anything to help you—sometimes having a person to hear you out and to be there for you when you need them is more than enough.
Just be careful with whom you share your deepest secrets with because confiding in the wrong person will bring you more bad than good.
If this doesn’t give you any results, you can always look for professional help.
Remember that you’re not the only one going through this mess in your head and that there exist people who will give you the right help you need.
