{"id":14438,"date":"2017-04-28T01:00:41","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T08:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/datemixstaging.wpengine.com\/?p=14438"},"modified":"2021-05-31T13:32:52","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T20:32:52","slug":"overthinking-kills-your-dating-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Ways Overthinking Can Kill Your Dating Game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The world of dating can be a tough and intimidating one, especially if you\u2019re the kind of person who tends to overthink every. single. thing. Do you stress about being late? Keep to-do lists for days? Or agonize for hours over the last text you sent? If this sounds like you, then you might want to take a look at your romantic life to see if you\u2019re overthinking things there too. Because the truth is that overthinking and dating are not a good mix, and dissecting every little thing about a relationship can really do some damage to your chances of being with someone amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not sure if you\u2019re overthinking things or not? Here are the seven ways obsessing over your love life can kill your dating game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. You worry too much.<br>\n<\/strong>Being a chronic over-thinker means you\u2019re always coming up with \u2018what if\u2019 scenarios. This means that you\u2019re mentally dealing with consequences for things that haven\u2019t happened yet and may never happen at all. When it comes to dating, these types of scenarios are pretty common. (What if she hates my dog? What if he\u2019s not ready to be exclusive?) But overthinking every step of a relationship can lead to it stalling rather than moving forward in a natural way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. You can\u2019t find the joy in dating.<br>\n<\/strong>Overthinking consumes all of your thought processes and your mental energy, and can often mean you&#8217;re not&nbsp;finding any joy in the present moment. If you\u2019re too busy thinking about what may or may not happen in the future, you\u2019re not enjoying the now. Not being able to find joy in the current state of your relationship can have a negative impact on your partner too. Don\u2019t forget to enjoy the moment you\u2019re in, the rest will come later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. It can make you seem stupid.<br>\n<\/strong>People who overthink tend to rehearse situations and scenarios in their head a hundred times before they actually happen. This can be awkward or embarrassing on a date if the conversation doesn\u2019t go in the direction that you planned and you end up lost for words with nothing to say. To avoid looking silly in these situations, you need to try to be as spontaneous as possible. Don\u2019t limit yourself to only being confident under a certain set of circumstances. Let yourself be natural and the conversation will flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. It makes everything harder.<br>\n<\/strong>For an over-thinker, life can become unnecessarily difficult because you\u2019re always reacting negatively to situations and occasions that don\u2019t necessarily match up with your preconceived expectations. In other words, by overthinking so much and coming to conclusions in your head before they\u2019ve played out in reality, you\u2019re constantly setting yourself up for disappointment and anxiety. This is especially detrimental in the dating world where it\u2019s not only <em>your<\/em> thought process that counts but also your partner\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. It creates problems that don\u2019t really exist.<br>\n<\/strong>Your tendency to overthink means that if your partner does something even slightly outside of your personal expectations, a problem is created that probably shouldn\u2019t have been a problem in the first place. This can be a hard atmosphere for both of you to live in. The person you\u2019re with is never going to know whether something he or she says or does will end up causing an argument. And you\u2019ll find yourself looking for your partner to mess up or fall short of your expectations, instead of just enjoying your time together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>6. It creates false conclusions.<br>\n<\/strong>Not only does overthinking create false problems in a relationship, it can also create false conclusions. If you\u2019re doing all of the worrying and arguing in your own head, then you\u2019re more likely to come to a conclusion that has very little to do with what\u2019s really going on with your partner. Jumping to conclusions is a classic consequence of overthinking. This can be a fatal flaw in a relationship where your partner becomes sick and tired of being misunderstood or ignored altogether in favor of your own thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt takes work to be present and thankful in your relationship,\u201d says dating expert <a href=\"http:\/\/www.older-dating.co.uk\/nicole-martinez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nikki Martinez<\/a>. \u201cBut it will be well worth it. You need to make sure that your partner knows how important they are to you, and that they are at the top of your life for all things that matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, you can see how overthinking can have a damaging impact on your dating life and relationships. Instead of overthinking, work on overcoming it, talk to the person you\u2019re with, or go to your friends for counsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A top tip to stop overthinking by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yourtango.com\/experts\/elizabeth-stone\/stop-over-analyzing-relationship\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Elizabeth Stone<\/a> is to \u201cCultivate artful distractions. Staying involved in your hobbies and interests even when things are going great with someone new is a really good way to avoid overthinking. Distractions also help you practice staying in the present moment, which helps a great deal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;re all guilty of it. But when is your overthinking really starting to hurt you? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":14439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[884,898],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dating-advice","category-relationship-problems"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>6 Ways Overthinking Can Kill Your Dating Game<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are you overthinking your relationship? If you think you might be it could be hurting you more than you think. Check out the 7 ways overthinking can hurt.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 Ways Overthinking Can Kill Your Dating Game\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are you overthinking your relationship? If you think you might be it could be hurting you more than you think. Check out the 7 ways overthinking can hurt.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Date Mix\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoosk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-28T08:00:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-31T20:32:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2017\/04\/26144827\/overthinking-in-a-relationship.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lucy Clarke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Zoosk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Zoosk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lucy Clarke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"6 Ways Overthinking Can Kill Your Dating Game","description":"Are you overthinking your relationship? If you think you might be it could be hurting you more than you think. Check out the 7 ways overthinking can hurt.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"6 Ways Overthinking Can Kill Your Dating Game","og_description":"Are you overthinking your relationship? If you think you might be it could be hurting you more than you think. Check out the 7 ways overthinking can hurt.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/","og_site_name":"The Date Mix","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoosk\/","article_published_time":"2017-04-28T08:00:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-31T20:32:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2017\/04\/26144827\/overthinking-in-a-relationship.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lucy Clarke","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Zoosk","twitter_site":"@Zoosk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lucy Clarke","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/"},"author":{"name":"Lucy Clarke","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#\/schema\/person\/ccd9723a37833cc5a36a4eb4f899d93f"},"headline":"6 Ways Overthinking Can Kill Your Dating Game","datePublished":"2017-04-28T08:00:41+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-31T20:32:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/"},"wordCount":844,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2017\/04\/26144827\/overthinking-in-a-relationship.jpg","articleSection":["Dating Advice","Relationship Problems"],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/","name":"6 Ways Overthinking Can Kill Your Dating Game","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/relationship-advice\/relationship-problems\/overthinking-kills-your-dating-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2017\/04\/26144827\/overthinking-in-a-relationship.jpg","datePublished":"2017-04-28T08:00:41+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-31T20:32:52+00:00","description":"Are you overthinking your relationship? 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