Firstly if you’re a cow reading this, I’m in no way criticising your digestion processes.
This is in fact about mental rumination. And why it sucks for your mental health.
If you’re in the UK like me, you’re still on lockdown. And while that is nice in terms of snacks and relaxation time, it’s also giving you a lot of time to ruminate over things.
Mental rumination is a good feeder of anxious thoughts. I find myself waking up to worry about something I did or said YEARS ago, which is a mental battle.
Also I ruminate over things that have happened more recently, like getting annoyed with my kid and whether I overreacted or was just a solid father figure. Other stuff too, like where am I going in life and how do I measure up with ‘the ideal’. Only what is the ideal and why does it matter so long as I’m doing my best?
Rumination makes us more considerate sometimes of how we act, but it can also be a form of self torture.
Which leads me to my point, that I think we should treat rumination like we treat a glass of wine. It’s okay to have a couple now and again, but when you’re drinking a whole bottle and becoming morose, that’s too much.
In short: please ruminate in moderation. 🙂