You Can Usually Tell Someone's A Big Worrier By 5 Things They Think About Almost Constantly
Sia Footage / Shutterstock Everyone worries here and there, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Worrying is a healthy sign that you care.
Still, there are some people who feel worried or anxious more often than they’re not. These people spend their days stressing about different areas of their life, and it usually prevents them from enjoying the moment they’re in. They get stressed over the same particular things too, leading them to constantly think about the same issues over and over again.
If someone's a big worrier, they usually think about these things almost constantly
1. Messing up at work
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It’s normal to occasionally mess up, especially at work. No one can be perfect all the time. Unfortunately, big worriers can’t help but live in fear that they're going to make mistakes at work on a daily basis. They may even panic, thinking that their mess-ups will get them fired.
These worries are often hard to help calm someone down from. Our careers have a huge impact on our lives and happiness. People who are unemployed consistently report lower satisfaction. Our jobs are how we make money, so it's not like someone should pretend they'd be fine with losing their source of income if they get fired.
However, a big worrier's panic about getting fired and not making money is likely to be irrational and might cause them to spiral into the false assumptption that, if they make even one mistake, they’ll suddenly be broke. Most employers are willing to forgive mistakes when employees take accountability, and worrying about it too much can be so distracting that it makes mistakes far more probable.
2. Things they recently said or did
Big worriers are usually overanalyzers. They get nervous about the interactions they had or how they behaved in a certain place. They'll think and rethink through their recent memories of things they've said and done and overanalyze how people reacted. They'll also worry about how they think what they said affected their friends and their perceptions of them, which keeps them trapped in their stress and negativity.
This quality is even worse in people with OCD, who are typically big worriers themselves. When someone has OCD, their brains trick them into twisting a memory or changing it completely when they're stressed about something. This makes it so anything they're worried about actually happened, when that’s probably not the case. They'll manipulate themselves into believing there's a genuine issue.
3. Getting enough sleep
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When someone can't stop their thoughts from racing with all of the things they think could potentially go wrong, sleep can be a lot harder to come by. So then it's natural that people who spend a lot of time worrying soon start worrying about whether and how they'll get enough sleep.
When people feel anxious, it tires them out. Many worriers use up so much of their energy stressing out that they're too exhausted not to crave a nap the next day. When someone feels anxious for an extended period of time, like big worriers usually do, the exhaustion can turn into burnout. In those cases, they’ll be thinking about sleep until they’re able to get a substantial amount, causing a difficult cycle to break out of.
4. World events
People with a lot of worries constantly think about world events and how they might be impacted by them. It's easy to get stuck in a negative mindset when you're paying attention to current events all day long. Usually the things covered are pretty negative, and humans are already more likely to focus on the negative than the positive information they hear.
Also, because of social media and the constant world updates we're bombarded with, most people get updates on world events whether they want them or not. The difference, though, is that big worriers aren't able to pull themselves away from watching the news. They're too stressed about what could happen and probably want to get all the facts to see how much they should panic. When this happens, it causes them to research current events more and get stuck in the negative mindset we're naturally inclined to have.
5. Their health
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Most people worry about their health, but some people worry a bit too much about it. It’s important to pay attention to the kinds of foods you’re putting in your body, but people who constantly worry may keep track of their diet an obsessive amount.
They might have a specific number of calories they're allowed to eat each day or restrict themselves from certain foods. They also tend to be the people who take lots of vitamins in the morning, just to make sure they're checking all their boxes and avoiding getting sick. They're too anxious that sickness could hold them back from their life, or it'll get worse and turn serious.
By doing these extra things, they're trying to get some kind of confirmation that they’re on the right track to being healthy. It helps calm some of their anxiety when they worry about their health again later.
Lily Bell is a college student studying English and Publications who covers relationships, mental health, and personal narratives surrounding the human experience.
