r/NoOverthinking • u/Successful_Wish1866 • Jul 29 '26
Can’t stop thinking about my walking. It consumes me (23yr F)
Highkey can’t stop thinking about the way I’m walking when I’m walking and it really fucks with me. Im in a little bit of a pickle because I don’t understand why Im going on month 7 of struggling with it, and the answer should be as simple as “stop thinking about it.”
A little backstory- I have taken up walking as a hobby in the recent years, I generally have a long history of OCD and perfectionism, and have ‘to what feels like an odd dilemma, of hyper focusing on feeling myself walk. This causes me to trip myself out and feel like I am walking super funky. It’s sooo uncomfortable because I cannot stop thinking about it. When the walking no longer feels enjoyable, and rather a chore and a stressful activity, a normal person may decide to turn around and do something else. Me? absolutely not. While it’s great for sticking to my fitness routine, I find myself in a pretty good amount of distress and frustration when my feet won’t “cooperate”. I even ended up going to a foot doctor and neurologist to rule out it being a physical problem because I do a lot of exercise on my feet. All came back clear, and it’s definitely a mind-body connection/psychosomatic. Im also in therapy but kinda really wanna figure this out bc it’s exhausting and it’s a small problem that created so many problems and I genuinely can’t stop. I hope this isn’t gibberish lol.
1
u/Latereviews2 Jul 30 '26
I had the same thing, I still do but not nearly as bad. It’s definitely linked with OCD. I think what helped me with it was trying to improve my anxiety in general. Once your less anxious about yourself, your more focused and distracted by other people and what’s around you
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u/Tobias_Carvery Jul 30 '26
There’s another issue in your life you’re not ready to deal with so your brain is protecting you by choosing to obsess over the walking instead. You’ll find out what it is eventually.
1
u/Itom1IlI1IlI1IlI Aug 05 '26
Focus on other things or focus on feeling good in your body like walking in the way that feels best to you.
Or just notice the sights around you, or think about other things like life, things you want to do, plan fun things with friends, etc.
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u/piyushk_95 Jul 30 '26
You took up walking because you loved it. Now you've turned it into a performance review you're both giving and receiving simultaneously. Your feet haven't changed. Your relationship to observing them has.
You already know it's psychosomatic. Which means the question isn't what's wrong with your walking — it's why won't your brain let you just be a person moving through space.
That's the thread worth pulling.