Why Overthinking As an Introvert Is Harming My Mental Wellbeing

Edit: This article was written long back and I was afraid of sharing it.

This is my first attempt at writing a blog article and sharing something publicly in the hopes of improving myself as a person and helping anyone else who can relate to me. So here goes…

I am a very introverted person who barely posts on social media and have a difficult time initiating a conversation because I overthink about anything I am about to share. While this isn’t the worst thing in the world, our natural craving for dopamine must be fulfilled somehow and I feel it is important to have a source of feeling good about self-accomplishment.

I would say, 50% of my time is spent overthinking and imagining scenarios with people in my head. It is a subconscious activity at this point and is ruining me and my mood constantly. Trying to catch myself and cutting it out is the first step in overcoming my overthinking habit.

I have interests to talk about, things to share about every little thing which may be relatable to other people. Yet, I am too shy and have not been able to do so. I would think:

“These ads are really feeling intrusive now, I should talk about it”

“I am so annoyed by people sharing stories on Instagram of them behind the steering wheel and being irresponsible and risking not only theirs but other people’s lives as well”

I would then think about the responses I would receive and people being toxic about things I am convinced is wrong to do so and just not talk about it. I cannot tolerate toxicity from people and I almost always mute my teammates while I am gaming online. Online gaming can be extremely toxic and can have a bad effect on a person and also ruin their experience. This can be a topic for another article. Continuing with the topic at hand…

I still struggle sharing things and I’m very picky about who I talk with about those things. I only end up aspiring to speak to some people because:

1. I do not feel I am worth their time
2. I assume they are too busy to spend a few minutes with me
3. I am afraid of criticism
4. I have overthought about the above stated and already destroyed my chance at socializing and letting them know my thoughts.
5. I struggle with low self-esteem at times. (Which is also why we need a source of feeling good about self-accomplishment)

Recently, after almost being done at university (Better late than never, right) my interest in LinkedIn has sparked (Because I was part of a group who won an event and a friend posted our success to their profile, you know who you are). I shared a post about targeted advertising, and it felt good. I’ve put out a concerning and most definitely relatable message for my networks/public to see. Because, the networks I have made currently are people I am comfortable with/want to become comfortable with, while the public remains anonymous.

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, the friends I have made are people who I have met throughout my life and not everyone is going to be interested in what I have to talk about. Although business accounts on these platforms can be useful to promote myself eventually in the future.

I am writing articles and sharing them as a first step to come out of my comfort zone to gain self-confidence, create a network (as LinkedIn would phrase it) and have meaningful conversations in the future.