How do I know if I'm overreacting?

I know that I may be overreacting if I do not consistently practice taking a pause before responding. Reacting is knee jerk...responding is taking a moment to turn inwards and contemplate the present moment before replying to a situation. When I overreact, I usually can feel that in my body. Heart pounding, head thundering, hands shaking. If I use that momentary pause to check in on how I am feeling physically, I can also use one more moment to breath and ground myself. Practicing these processes while I am not in distress ensures I am less likely to over react during a stressful situation.

First you need to validate what you're feeling or thinking, because it has came from a source. Then, you need to objectively contrast your thoughts or feelings with what's actually happening in the stressful or anxious situation. Is our reaction accurate to the situation? Is the answer is "no", then it's probable we're overreacting. We should make objective statements towards the situation we're in. Also, we should check why did we overreacted: maybe is a coping mechanism or maybe it's something we've learned according to previous experiences. We should also remember that we can learn no ways to react, especially more accurate ways.

Sometimes we all overreact at things, and we look back on it and think how silly it might've been. it is completely normal when this happens and there is nothing wrong with this. It can also be quite hard sometimes to know if you are overreacting because of what others are thinking and saying to you, which could also make you feel a certain way, in this case, like you are being a little bit dramatic. I try to focus on the issue at hand and i rate it out of ten how it will affect me in the next month, and if it is above 6, then I rate out of ten how overreactive I think I am being.

You know if you are overreacting if your actions are different that they would usually be in the same situation. Additionally, you can ask a trusted friend for their honest opinion which can help you to decide if you are overreacting or reacting appropriately. It is important to ask someone that you trust though because you are going to want an honest opinion so that you can make a judgment on your actions. If you think you are overreacting, chances are that you are overreacting but it is good to self-evaluate your actions to decide if your reaction is appropriate.

The most important thing, for me, is to remember that the term "overreacting" is subjective in nature–therefore, only you can decide if it's an overreaction. In my experience, it's important to note the reaction of other people around you, people who know you well. If they're surprised by your behaviour, it might be worthwhile stepping back and re-evaluating the situation. A little self-reflection should indicate if it's an overreaction, but it is also important to remember that there is a difference between an overreaction and simply feeling strongly emotional (of which there's nothing wrong!). Whilst other's opinions are important, they can't know how you feel.

We tend to change into a different person we are not when we overreact. Every time something that makes you feel bad happens, try to imagine yourself from other point of view, and analyze if you are acting correctly. For example, someone said something non important, and didn't have in mind to offend you, instead it made you feel sad, angry, nervous. Try to imagine being in that someone's place, and understand that it really wasn't meant to be mean. It might be a good idea. Always take the time to look back at your actions and try to change. Keep calm and think things through.

Overreacting is subjective. There are however things that you can do to help establish the level of action or reaction a situation needs. This is useful when there are high emotion situations and when one can not control the outcome. For instance, if your day has not been great a small situation on any other day would be LARGE in comparison. Taking a set back and thinking though the possible outcomes versus the desired outcome can he a good gage on how to react. Giving empathy and grace to others when they make errors opens up the opportunity for a positive interaction. Lastly, if you were dealing with the person that cared for more than anything else how would you speak to them or have them speak to you during the critical moment before you react. Trying these things are a start on the road to giving your emotions the freedom to be expressed without causing a negative chain reaction.

To get knowledge over whether you are overreacting, you can consider watching how do other people react in similar situations. You would need to consider to watch many people as there are many different people with very different personalities and i would kindly suggest you to find people who haven't got mental health issues to watch and observe as people with mental health issues tend to be more sensitive to stresses and stimuli than people with no mental health issues. Such as physical illness (flu for example) makes you harder coping with physical challenges, such as walking and exercising - however, it wouldn't be advisable to exercise if you have got flu), thus also mental health issue can make you harder to cope with everyday mental exertions (such as work, study, coping with stresses, sleep, etc). So, it is therefore needed to observe people without mental health issues to get some reference on whether you are overreacting or not.

Try to think about it from the other persons perspective. Ask yourself how you would feel. Ask someone their thoughts and what they would do. Take all of that into consideration and usually that will tell you what you need to know. When we have feelings about situations sometimes we can respond in a way others would not. So it’s important to get a perspective from someone who doesn’t have those strong feelings or emotional ties so that way they you can see from an outsiders point of view and that should help to see if you are or not

When your actions make you anxious, feeling stressed, it means your inner self is telling you, you are doing something wrong or something that is not right in that situation. And also when you don't pay much attention or not cared for others who have involved. If you are having a bad feeling about what you said earlier or thinking about you should have acted better way, mostly you left with regret and hurting other people. When you are overreacting to your actions, your action is self-centered, it's just about you. You come to conclusion very easily, not taking much time to decide what's right or wrong.