 Psych2Go is a digital media organization that raises mental health awareness by presenting psychological topics in a digestible and relatable manner. Please share our content with those who need it. It's a great way to support us as well. There are many different kinds of cheeses. You walk into any given grocery store and there it is, the long, daunting shelf of cheeses. There's orange cheddar, white cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan, provolone, colby jack, and the list goes on. All you need is cheese for tonight's dinner. But this is turning out to be the hardest decision of your life. If you can relate to this, or a situation less ridiculous but similar to this, you're probably an overthinker. Many of us are guilty of being overthinkers, and there's nothing wrong with that. But here's a list of 7 things that overthinkers can relate to. 1. Overthinkers apologize too much. Before you're even sure if something is your fault, you're already apologizing for it. This leaves you feeling vulnerable and exposed to more trouble, like for example, taking the blame for every situation may cause others to take advantage of you. Overthinkers tend to want to smooth over the rough patches, but sometimes it can cause more trouble than it's worth. 2. Overthinkers relive embarrassing past experiences in their heads. You tend to repeatedly relive the moments you are less proud of in your mind. For example, imagine that you're having a perfectly normal day, then your brain decides to remind you of that one time in middle school when you ripped your pants in gym class. And just like that, your whole day is ruined. You tend to relive these past experiences and imagine how it could have gone differently. 3. Overthinkers appear more insecure than they really are. Because of your indecisive nature, it may cause others to view you as unsure of yourself or underconfident. This becomes apparent in working situations because you take too long to make decisions for clients or projects. 4. Overthinkers have problems sleeping. When you lay down at night, your brain starts to process all of the information you learned from that day. If you're a natural overthinker, your brain goes haywire at night, trying to organize all the thoughts you're having. You may lay down in your bed at 9.30pm, only to find yourself wide awake at 1am, forming a plan of how you're finally going to start going to the gym on a regular basis. A study published in May 2003 states that there is a direct link between rumination or overthinking and negative emotions and thoughts. 5. Overthinkers worry about making others happy. You often disregard your own desires for the sole purpose of satisfying someone else. You may repress your own opinion so as not to contradict someone else. You constantly make decisions based on how other people would react to them, rather than what is best for you. 6. Overthinkers always need a second opinion. It's hard for you to make a decision on your own. You may spend hours in the department store because you're taking pictures of every outfit and sending it to all your friends for their input. It may be difficult for you to make even simple decisions without consulting an outside source. 7. Overthinkers spend time worrying about things they have no control over. Whether you like it or not, there are always going to be things in the world that you have no control over. In fact, most things fall into that category. If you're an overthinker, you tend to lose sleep over things that are completely and utterly uninfluenced by you. It's okay to accept that some things are out of your reach. Sometimes overthinkers make their lives more difficult than they have to be. A study published in September 2008 titled Rethinking Rumination states that there is a strong relationship between overthinking and mental illness. Based on a person's proneness to overthink, you may be able to predict the likelihood of that person being depressed or having anxiety. Being an overthinker can make you good at critical thinking, as well as sympathetic to others and their problems. But there are many options out there to help stop you from overthinking your whole life if you feel that it's a problem. Try to put things into perspective. Do some meditation or deep breathing. Stop trying to make everything perfect because that more than likely is never going to happen. If you're an overthinker, try overthinking the good things in your life rather than the bad.