Have you ever laid in bed wanting nothing more than to fall asleep, but just can't? You want to fall asleep so badly that you think about falling asleep, causing you to stay up longer?

Have you ever stood in the grocery store staring at five different kinds of apples, and debating whether to go with the cheap pink lady apples, or spend the extra money for honey crisp?

Have you ever written out a tweet or Facebook status, then deleted and rewrote it (multiple times) because it didn't sound good enough?

Have you ever put so much thought into a situation that you begin to create scenarios or problems that never really existed in the first place?

Chances are this has happened to the vast majority of us. In some cases, however, overthinking can become habitual and stressful. Our conscience can have a way of making us double guess every answer we put down on a test, every text or tweet we send, and every decision we make. It's not like we want to be negative or indecisive, we don't want to think about every possible scenario of a situation, we don't want to let our conscience control our thoughts and emotions... but it does, and we sometimes can't help it.

That said, there is many different versions of "overthinking," and it is VERY important to know that nothing is wrong with you just because of these! Your over processing of thoughts, situations, problems and whatever else could occur because of a lack of confidence, second guessing yourself, worrying too much, trying to protect yourself or others, or simply just an annoying habit you've involuntarily developed.

Here are a few things that those who struggle with overthinking can relate to and want those who surround us to understand:

1) It may be "no big deal" but to us, it is. Whether it's trying to plan the outfit we are going to wear to dinner, a quiz score or being told "I have to talk to you," it makes us anxious. You have no idea how many times we've gotten the "don't worry about it" or "it's not a big deal" but that doesn't change the fact that we are going to dwell on it and stress about it, so bare with us.

2) We care, A LOT, sometimes too much. If we disappoint our parents, we feel like the worst person in the world. When we get in an argument with a significant other, we don't want to stop until we get to the bottom of it... and still, we often times find something else to be worked out. Don't even get me started on drifting away from loved ones, we'll do anything and everything in our power to prevent this. Why? BECAUSE WE CARE ABOUT YOU.

3) That little decision, doesn't seem so little. Those decisions at a grocery store where we spend three minutes just trying to decide which bread is healthiest, whether to send "hey" with an exclamation point, smiley face or emoji, if dark or light jeans match our black shirt the best --- we put more thought into these decisions than some people put into a three page college essay, so try not to get too frustrated when we are "fashionably late" or taking two hours to run to the grocery store.

4) We dwell on past decisions and situations, and trust me, we KNOW we need to "just let it go." You'd be surprised how many times we even tell ourselves to let it go, it's just not that easy. For example, a test grade that didn't live up to our expectations, we think about every question we could have answered differently or should have changed our answer on. Or, let's say, our boyfriend's ex-girlfriend... no matter how much trust there is, that girl will always make us nervous whether or not there's a legitimate reason. So please, know that we WANT to "just let it go" and we will try our best, but it will take us more time.

5) Way too often, we think of the worst case scenario. That weird sharp pain in our stomach? After researching for a half hour, we self-diagnosed ourselves with appendicitis (until we are told how ridiculous we sound and the pain goes away, that is). Oh, and let me tell you, if one thing goes wrong at the start of the day, the rest of the day, or week, will continue to get worse. Once something goes wrong, everything after that brings our mind back to the fact that we are having a "bad day" even when we really aren't. Don't get frustrated with our complaining sometimes we just have those days, everyone does in fact. Just remind us it's only a bad day, not a bad life!

Did you relate to these? Maybe only one or two? I think most of us can! It's normal, our brains are so complex and life can get so complicated that we can't help but think too much at times. So, whether you habitually over think, just every once in awhile or maybe you're someone who surrounds these type of people, there's a few things you may find relief in knowing.

It's normal, in fact it's very common to do these things! We all have "those days" where our brain can't seem to slow down. You may get frustrated with yourself or the situation, but just breathe and relax, and know that IT IS OK. Let that brain spin its wheels and embrace your complicated, overthinking, indecisive self because it's all part of who you are. At the end of the day, your overactive thinking will work to your benefit even though it can get on your last nerve most days.

So, one final thought for all anyone reading this... whether or not you fall into the "over thinker" group:

We NEED to have bad days, bad relationships, bad test scores and hard decisions, because without them we wouldn't enjoy the good days, quality relationships, over-achieving grades and simple decisions nearly as much!