9. You Overthink the Small Things
The world would be a much simpler place if people said what they meant and meant what they said. Unfortunately, this is not the way humans interact with one another. Instead, they lie, conceal the truth, and fail to admit to ourselves or others what we are feeling. There are times when you do this to avoid hurting another person’s feelings. This is a common thing in the dating world.
In fact, this way of acting has become so normalized and widespread, people have developed names for this pattern of behavior. Perhaps you are familiar with the term, “ghosting.” A person will ghost another for various reasons, but it is sometimes to avoid hurting the other person. Instead of coming right out and saying that they’re not interested, they will slow down their communication until all channels are closed.
This may sound cruel at first, but how well do you deal with rejection? Could you bear to hear that someone doesn’t like you instead of having the chance to fabricate reasons for their slow disappearance? In this world, individuals have to read between the lines. You have to interpret a person’s smallest gestures to glean their true feelings.
Perhaps you analyze every text and word. Although you may obsess a bit, there comes a time when the majority of people will move on. They will allow themselves to forget about the interaction and accept the things the person said at face value. However, this option is not open to anxious people. They are always worried they have done or said something wrong, so they can’t let it go.