You know exactly what I’m talking about. Shaking a guy’s hand when he tries to dap you up. Stuttering your way through a conversation with a professor (and it makes you feel really stupid). Trying to insist you were right, only to look up the answer later and realize you were willing to die on the wrong hill. The most random things keep us up all night, wondering what we could have done differently or why you said that. As someone with anxiety (and an amazing therapist), I get it, it’s rough. However, there are ways to put your restless mind at peace, and learn to be okay with your daily mistakes.
Meditation
If you’re having trouble putting your mind at ease when you’re trying to sleep, a fifteen-minute guided meditation is sure to put those anxious thoughts to rest. With controlled breathing, easy stretches, and mental relaxation techniques, meditation has never failed to help me with my anxiety over a small mistake.
Yoga
Within the same vein of meditation is yoga. This can be more for an interaction that is really bothering you, or something that happened in the past. Part of yoga is setting an intention before class, so while you are in downward dog and child’s pose, reflect on what happened, how you handled yourself, and put your brain at peace. Yoga also has a lot of controlled breathing and calm body movements, so the quiet relaxation of moving your body intentionally can always help release stress and anxiety.
Affirmations / Confronting the truth
Something my mom always told me in high school was, “No one is ever thinking about you as much as you are. Everyone is too involved with their own lives to notice anything around them.” Often I have found this ringing true, and however much you may be thinking about how you handled yourself, no one else is thinking about it. I promise, humans are incredibly self-absorbed and self-important, and most of the time, they really are thinking about themselves. Additionally, that one five second interaction in the dining hall, while very embarrassing for a few moments, is not going to be remembered by anyone around you for more than a few minutes. We are literally all organisms on a giant floating rock. At the end of the day, it is not that deep.
I hope that some of these ideas will be employable to you, and that you can stop lying awake at night stressing. This will take some time, for sure, but using these techniques are likely going to help calm your mind, and find peace in your past actions. There’s nothing you can change about it now, so don’t let it bother you.