Why do we get stressed for things that should make us happy?

by Cath

The title summarizes it all. It might be just me but the things that excite and fascinate me the most are the ones that end up making me more stressed, I sometimes fear that I’m not able to fully appreciate life.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot mostly because I’m travelling to Japan in a few days and I feel more stressed than excited because I feel like I didn’t plan as much as I should have “got to see the itinerary”, “have to buy the train tickets”, “have to figure out the best way to go to the aeroport”, my mind is unable to shut up.

The truth is, I should have taken care of the accommodation a long time ago, I also had enough time to check out what to do in each day, I gave priorities to other things and I have to accept that and that’s okay.

I’m happy to go to Japan but I fear that my lack of thorough planning will make it less fun. How does my brain think like this? For years I’ve been wanting to go to Japan and I’m sure that it’s an interesting country to visit, but I cannot shake the fear of missing out on “the best ramen restaurant” or “the best temple of Japan” just because I didn’t do my homework.

I feel pressured to go everywhere but my rational side says: enjoy it! Stop overthinking! If you don’t see everything, it will be okay! If you save money maybe someday you can visit Japan again so stop being silly, it’s not a big deal!

I believe that once I arrive I’ll have lots of fun and the stress will disappear as there’s a whole new world to explore but it hasn’t been easy weeks! My brain doesn’t like to stop! I’ve this horrible habit of overthinking everything and turning fun things in things that stress me out, make me cry and haunt me until taken care of.

Am I the only one feel like this? If not, how do you deal with it? It helps me a lot go for a walk and write but I’ve to confess that it’s hard.

1 comment

Paige June 12, 2017 - 7:48 am

You put a lot of pressure on yourself, my dear. You are clearly an accomplished person, but nobody is perfect. Allow yourself some “mistakes” (AKA being a human being, rather than a perfect robot) such as procrastination, time wasting on netflix, non-100% perfection, once in a while. In my late 20’s I started “letting myself off the hook” for non-critical imperfections, mistakes, etc. If you berate yourself for the little things your mind will be too clouded to do the big things right. Big hug.

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