How do I know if I'm overreacting?

Honestly, we don't know we overreact until someone has told us we did or we see how the situation unfolds and find out ourselves that we overreacted. It's a very normal thing, and everyone does it. I wouldn't take it too seriously, but if you find yourself thinking you do it a lot, try to find exercises or even step yourself a side and just remind yourself maybe this situation isn't that crazy that we think it is. Sometimes we just need to slow ourselves down and breathe in and just act as if this is a small bump in the road and not the end of the world. Most of the time it all happens just because we care a lot of/about something, in which case you have nothing to feel ashamed about. Just remind yourself, maybe this moment isn't so crazy right now and think light of it and I'm sure that'll make things better. I wish the best of luck for you! :)

A good trick to catch yourself if you think you're overreacting is to force yourself to stop speaking. Instead, take a deep breath. In the heat of the moment, a racing mind will spur incoherent thoughts all on its own and if at anytime your lips have physically stopped moving but your mind is still adding on to the same line of conversation, then you are most likely overreacting or overthinking the situation. Certain physical reactions such as hyperventilating or even twitching can also be a quick sign that we need to slow down. The key is to diffuse a reaction before it blows over.

You will realise if you are overreacting once you have calmed down, had time to breathe and think. Overreaction usually happens because of a certain situation that has made you lose your cool, so to observe and evaluate your response you have to take a step back. Breathe, calm down and focus. Put yourself into the shoes of the other people around you or the person you are having an argument with to try and get an idea of how they might feel. How do they see the situation? Once you are calm, you will be able to make well rounded rational decisions and avoid overreacting.

It can be difficult to tell if we are overreacting because we tend to be biased towards thinking the worst in both situations as well as about ourselves. A couple ways to just double check your thoughts and decisions start with either visualizing or hearing your thought process. Talking to a friend, family member, or listener and just explaining your viewpoint will help two-fold. First, the other person will be able to help go through things in a rational manner. Secondly, you'll be able to hear yourself! Being able to just say it out loud will help you filter through everything. Another way is to write it all down. I recommend doing it on lined paper and to skip lines. I hope this helps

It is very inlikely you yourslef know at the moment that you are overeacting. Because at the moment we are so focused on the thing that happened, we forget to see the options or choices we have to get out of the situation. But after some time we realise that we have overreacted, so what you can do, is think about it afterwards and understand those behaviour. Once you do, you'll know when you are overreacting and over time it will become a habit. You need to seperate your reaction from your emotions because when we are emotional we tend to forget logic.

Sometimes it's best to try and find another perspective. If you were in this person's shoes, or even in the shoes of an onlooker, how would you feel about the situation? Often, you can very easily tell when you are overreacting but it's easy to ignore your own advice. Try to make sure you feel calm and to approach the problem willing to find a calm solution; this way, you will be able to tell whether you're approaching it in a way that could be considered an overreaction. For me, there are definitely circumstances I've experienced where a small part of me is telling me that I'm overreacting and the best thing I can do is just listen to my inner conscience, try to calm myself down, and then approach the problem from a different, less intense standpoint

Well, this one’s a tricky one. We often realize that we’ve been overreacting after we are done overreacting, which is not necessarily a good thing because the potential, hypothetical damage had already been done, and it might be too late to fix it. I personally try to recognize my behavior of overreacting (before someone else points it out, that is) by looking for certain patterns in my behavior that I have been repeating in situations where I’m overwhelmed with uncertainty, confusion, worry, or dissatisfaction. I do have specific way of reacting before it even turns into overreacting, and those micro reactions can often be indicators of overreacting in near future.

I know I am overreacting when I start feeling hot under my collar, am anxious to get across my point of view before letting the other person to do the same. I start to become irritated. I use typical words like "I know what I am talking about" I have seen this before" My mind starts to shut out reason, breathing becomes shallower and there is an urge to raise my voice. I repeat myself over and over again without realizing that it is the same things I am saying but using different words. At the end of the episode it does dawn on me that the response could have been simpler, more empathetic and would have served the purpose of assuaging the other persons feelings much better.

It will come with time and self-reflection. Think about situations where you think you overreacted or someone said you did it. How do you feel about it? Were there other ways to react to this situation or solve it? Do you think that your behavior was led purely by emotions or it was rather rational? How would you feel if another person would react the way you did? What are the consequences of your behavior? Were they worth it? If you see that there are ways to improve, work on that. Come up with the ways of self-control that would work for you when situation starts to get heated. You may count to 10 or ask another person for time-off to reflect and process your emotions. Next time you feel that your emotions are taking over, use these means to take the control back.

Overreacting usually means the situation that is bothering you isn't rational. Rational thinking is when you have a reason to be stressing about something. When you stress about something Irrational, it means you're stressing about something that isn't necessarily something you should be thinking about so stressfully. When you stress about a test, that is rational stressing. When your boyfriend goes out with his work buddies and doesn't text for 30 minutes and you worry if he's cheating, thats irrational stressing. If you can calm your stress a little and manage the anxiety just enough to where you can determine if its rational thinking or irrational thinking, thats the best way to know. :)