For many years, I had a terrible habit of replaying conversations in my head. Usually the ones I’d replay were the most awkward, strange, or embarrassing. Although sometimes I’d pick a seemingly ordinary one and replay that as well. As I replayed them, repeatedly, my mind would pick apart all the things I did wrong. All the ways I spoke too much (or too little), said the wrong thing, didn’t do it quite right, or otherwise sucked. This is a kind of rumination, which is just another form of anxiety.
