There’s always a certain amount of distress in anyone’s life. So you do your best to live with it, even ignore it, and go on as if life with some distress is normal. But then there are people who pay too much attention to their distress. Are you like this?
Do you focus over and over again on your symptoms of distress (“I can’t concentrate.” “I have no motivation.” “It’s just awful the way I handled that situation.”). Not only can you be stuck in this repetitive anxious-making preoccupation with what’s upsetting, you could also find that you don’t take action to correct the problems you identify. This kind of approach to distress can cause you to feel distressed about being distressed.
If you ruminate like this about your distress, you probably see a lot of negatives in your life, past, present, and future. This combination of rumination, taking no action, and negative thinking make it unlikely that life problems will get solved.
A handy substitute form of satisfaction and relief from distressful ruminating then is sorely needed. If you are an overweight woman, check to see if you got to be overweight by finding a palliative for ruminating in an indispensable bond with food and weight gain.