What could make you overreact? It could be something that pisses you off. When someone says that you are overreacting it could be a result of what the person has observed about you lately.
People tend to overreact when something bad happens to them and they are not able to handle it. But the moment someone says you are overreacting, check to see if you are overreacting.
Sometimes you could be overreacting without even knowing it, but it could also be that the other person is just exaggerating.
If someone tells you that you are overreacting and you do not know the possible answers that you can give to the person, keep on reading as I will share 20 different ways you can reply when someone says you are overreacting.
Things To Say When Someone Says You’re Overreacting
When The Person Knows What Happened
- You make little things seem like a big deal
- That was not overreacting, was it?
- I have been calm for too long, I cannot bear it anymore.
- I hope it was not too bad
- I am sorry I flared up
- I know, I have bottled it up for too long
- You would not do any better if it were you
- Do not make it seem like I killed someone
- That is all I could think of
- I expect you to be empathetic
You make little things seem like a big deal
As long as the person is aware of what happened that made you overreact, let the person know in your reply that even if you overreacted, he should not make it seem like a big deal. Some things happen that we should not exaggerate.
It could be that the person is exaggerating for him to tell you that you are overreacting. Your reaction may not have been as bad as he may paint it to be.
That was not overreacting, was it?
This reply shows that you reacted in a way, but you are not sure if how you reacted was overreacting. If someone told you that you overreacted, you can confirm with the person.
In your reply, you can simply say ‘’That was not overreacting, was it?”
I have been calm for too long, I cannot bear it anymore
This reply shows that you are aware that you overreacted, but you are justifying it based on the fact that you could not bear what happened to you any longer.
It could be that the person upset you a long time ago and it repeated itself, and this time around, you could not bear it anymore, and you had to overreact, maybe that will stop the person from behaving the way he did next time.
I hope it was not too bad
In this reply, you admit that you overreacted, but you want to be sure if how you overreacted was too bad. The moment you overreacted, you may not be able to remember how you acted.
But when you ask the person if your reaction was that bad, the person will be able to tell you. You should do this often because it will help you to know exactly what you are to do next time.
I am sorry I flared up
This is a reply that shows you admit that you overreacted. When the person tells you that you overreacted you will simply apologize because you admit you did it and you did not plan to.
This reply shows that you are remorseful and you would have turned back the hands of time if you could. With a reply like this, the person will understand how exactly you feel about what you did.
I know, I have bottled it up for too long
This also shows that you admit it and you are even sorry about it. You are also telling the person that you overreacted because you bottled up the anger for a long time and needed to let it out.
That must have been why you overreacted, and it is understandable because it can happen to anyone.
You would not do any better if it were you
This shows that you were in a tough situation. This person would most likely do worse than you if he were in your shoes.
This is also true, some people are so good at talking but when it comes to action they are nowhere to be found. You are correct that if they were the ones in your shoes they may not have done any better.
However, because the person was in the scene, he had to tell you the truth that you overreacted, which is true.
Do not make it seem like I k^lled someone
It is already a fact that you overreacted, and you are not denying it either. The onus is on the other person to not act like what you did was too bad that it cannot be controlled.
You only overreacted, it is not as if the way you overreacted hurt someone else. It did not. If the person exaggerated your reaction, let the person know that he should not do that and you are not comfortable with it.
That is all I could think of
This reply shows that when the incident happened, you were not able to think of any other way to react apart from overreacting the way you did. You should not beat yourself up because you overreacted.
Sometimes one can get angry and behave in a way that was not planned. You need to understand this. If someone is trying to make you feel bad because you overreacted at something, you should reply by telling the person that you could not think of anything else to do at that point.
I expect you to be empathetic
Being empathetic means that you can put yourself in another person’s shoes to how that person feels.
If you are empathetic enough and you were there when the incident happened, you will understand that it must have been difficult for the person to handle the situation then, and that was probably why the person overreacted.
Next time, before you comment, be empathetic and you will see if you still need to say what you said. Being empathetic saves a lot of energy for talking.
When The Person Knows Nothing About What Happened
- You were not there, you should not be talking
- Can you mind your business? You were not there
- You have no idea
- Only if you knew how I tried to hold the outburst
- You show no concern to know what even happened
- I think it was a good decision
- If I did not overreact, it would have repeated itself
- I did it for self-defense
- What do you expect? I am only human
- You just do not understand me
You were not there, you should not be talking
This is a direct reply to the person who told you that you are overreacting since the person was not there to witness what happened, then he should not be saying anything at all.
This reply may sound harsh, but it is the truth. Why would you want to interfere in something you barely know anything about? You should rather not say anything.
Can you mind your business? You were not there
This is a straight reply to let the person know that it would be better if he minds his business and does not talk about what he is not sure of.
When you reply to him in this way, he will have no option but to mind his business just as you advised him to. Even if the person feels offended by your reply, you have already passed the message you wanted.
You have no idea
This reply communicates to the person that he has no idea why you overreacted to what happened. You are being straightforward and at the same time saying what the person needs to hear at that point.
When you say he has no idea, it means that he has no clue what exactly happened and because of that, he should not even comment on it. This is a reply you can give that will hit hard.
The next time he sees you overreacting and he knows nothing about it, he will choose to not say anything.
Only if you knew how I tried to hold the outburst
You must have held the outburst for so long, for you to have overreacted, then what the person did that made you overreact was possibly something that will make you get pissed off.
The reason you had an outburst that made you overreact was that you have bottled up the anger for so long and you could not handle it again, you only had to just give it all out.
The person did not know what happened, so he will not understand how difficult it was to hold the anger to that level that you had to outburst.
You show no concern to know what even happened
The person is not even showing any concern or making any move to know what happened, he just jumped to conclusions.
Things like these do not make any sense at all because if you were not there to witness what happened, you should be making a mistake by trying to comment or even say something based on what happened.
I think it was a good decision
The person may not have been there, but if he says you overreacted, tell him that it was a good decision because you feel that was the right thing to do at that point. For you to overreact, shows that you were not able to react in any other way apart from overreacting.
Next time the person will think before making comments about you overreacting to something that he has no idea how happened.
If I did not overreact, it would have repeated itself
In this reply, you are explaining to the person that the only option you had at that point was to overreact. This is because the person who made you overreact must have done something in the past which got you pissed off.
You felt the only way to stop the person from repeating such an act was to overreact. Sometimes people think they can take advantage of you, sometimes it can be because you are too calm. When you overreact, it will stop the person from repeating such.
I did it for self-defense
It could be that you were in a terrible situation and the only option you had was to overreact, probably because it was a life-and-death situation that needed you to make a swift decision.
Sometimes, when you are in a critical situation that involves life and death, you may not be able to think straight to make the right decision, you may just act rationally. This could result in you overreacting.
What do you expect? I am only human
Of course, you are just human, humans are known to make mistakes sometimes, and humans also have their faults. If you overreacted out of your human nature of making mistakes, then you should not beat yourself up too much.
You just do not understand me
The person does not understand you at all and he does not even care because all he knows how to do is to say that you overreacted without caring if there was something that made you act that way.
This is a good reply that you can give.
Final words
Before you say that someone overreacted, ensure you know what happened to be sure if the person overreacting was a good decision.
If you are the one who overreacted and someone is telling you that you overreacted without trying to know what happened, you can use any of these replies.
The good thing about making use of any of the replies I talked about in this article is that they work anytime.
