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When Your Worrying Leaves You Brokenhearted

Overthinking is something we don’t always have control over.

Ryan Fan
5 min readAug 18, 2020
Photo by Elijah Hiett on Unsplash

“You call this thinking, but it’s walking…
I don’t see but you must continue
To use the gift you do possess,” — Robert Frost, “To a Thinker”

I have always been a big thinker, and overthinker of almost everything. I used to see it as the bane of my existence. Overthinking everything was not fun in the slightest, a curse among curses to my well-being, a trait that and is commonly linked to depression and anxiety. When I was younger, I always sought to get rid of my ruminating and overthinking tendencies. It was holding me back. My racing mind was not allowing my brain to shut off, not allowing me to relax or go to sleep.

As I’ve gotten older, I don’t know what has changed. Yes, I’m still an overthinker, but I can’t help but feel that my overthinking has some more direction. It is channeled into endeavors that come more in the problem-solving realm as opposed to rumination, as Amy Morin, the author of “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do” differentiates. I run and write a lot more than I did when I was in middle school. I have more friends, deeper connections, have become more vulnerable with those friends, and generally just have good relationships with people. In addition, my anxiety peaked when I was in middle…

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Ryan Fan
Ryan Fan

Written by Ryan Fan

Believer, Baltimore City IEP Chair, and 2:35 marathon runner. Diehard fan of “The Wire.”

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