I notice it around me a lot that people joke about being overthinkers. A friend mentions over a beer that they will spend the rest of the night going over the same conversation, the same moment, the same worry, until they finally fall asleep from exhaustion rather than peace.
It is a pattern I have noticed in people around me — friends, colleagues, people I have worked alongside in different contexts. Something that happens to people who are good at what they do, who care about doing it well, and who find themselves in circumstances that make their efforts impossible.
You learn early that most spaces require a version of you that is easier to process. Not you. A simplified, legible rendering of you that fits the categories the space was built around.
You've finally decided to try therapy. And your search so far looks something like this: You've opened a directory, scrolled through fifteen names and found yourself reading fifteen versions of the same thing.