1. Embarrassing moments are engraved in your brain.

It will be years, maybe even decades after an embarrassing moment happens, and not only do you still remember it, you still think about it, and you also wonder whether or not everyone else remembers. Chances are they definitely don’t think about it as much as you do.

2. You never tell people what you’re really thinking (when you’re over-thinking).

When your friends see that you haven’t spoken one word in the last 10 minutes, and they ask you what you’re thinking about, you never tell them the truth. If you did, they’d just tell you what you already know, you’re clearly over-thinking.

3. You live in hypothetical situations.

So much so that you confuse them with reality. You imagine what, when, where, and how, but none of them actually ever happened. Don’t try to imagine what if, just let what is, be.

4. You’re over-prepared for everything.

You think about everything you need for any given situation, and you take precautionary measures to make sure you’re ready for whatever happens. If you’re going to a business conference, you bring work clothes, but you also bring a short skirt and high heels just in case you meet someone you’d like to be more than business professional with. Again, prepared for EVERYTHING.

5. You constantly think of the worst-case scenario.

Even if you’re an optimist, when you’re an over-thinker, you’re constantly thinking about what could go wrong. You hope the worst-case scenario will never happen, but you think about what action you’d take if it ever did.

6. People often ask you why you’re being so quiet.

Because you’re thinking.

7. You’re aware that over-thinkers are ‘crazy’ so you try to hide the fact that you are one.

You don’t openly admit that you’re an over-thinker, but you know you are one. When you worry about whether or not you should’ve given the waiter a larger tip for a meal you ate three days ago, you’re an over-thinker, whether you like to admit it or not.

8. You wish texting didn’t exist.

Was that period a passive-aggressive period? Or was it just him ending his sentence? It’s hard for an over-thinker to grasp this concept, but WHO CARES. Texting leaves far too much room for interpretation that not even over-thinkers have time for.

9. You have trouble leaving the past in the past.

It’s easy for people to say what’s been done is done, but just because you can’t go back in time to change the past, doesn’t mean you don’t think about what would happen if you could. Stop thinking about how to change what’s already happened, and think about how you’ll change what’s yet to come. Let go, accept, and move on.