“Overthinking ruins you. Ruins the situation, twists it around, makes you worry and just makes everything much worse than it actually is.” - Unknown
I share a lot of memes on my IG Story about enjoying my own company, or always wanting to be left alone. On one of these memes a reader asked me, "Doesn’t staying alone lead you to overthink?" which got me thinking (!!!) and hence this post.
It just so happens that most my hobbies are solitary activity: walking, reading, blogging, cooking, drawing, cleaning, watching tv, music, dance, writing ... to name a few .... but I don’t think that has anything to do with how thoughts run through my brain. I am known to be lost in my own world when the world around me doesn’t interest me. The number of people around is irrelevant.
I suppose “over-thinking” usually applies to thoughts that are worrying and giving stress. Or it implies that there is an acceptable level of thinking that can be performed on any given subject (don’t know by whose standards) and after reaching that “said” level all human beings collectively should stop thinking.
I do get the question, I just don’t get society’s assumptions and judgements around every activity. So while I take objection to that phrase on purely logical grounds I do believe that thinking-for-the-sake-of-thinking can be a futile activity, especially if it is causing mental or physical harm to oneself.
I’d probably use the word “pondering” instead of “thinking”. I ponder a lot. It is what I call an optimum amount of thinking which eventually either helps me reach a solution or a conclusion. Both of which are adequate results for my peace of mind.
Overthinking can take many forms: endlessly deliberating when making a decision (and then questioning the decision), attempting to read minds, trying to predict the future, reading into the smallest of details, etc. I don’t relate of any of these behaviors. I am always steadfast in my decisions once I have made them. ‘What ifs’ and ‘shoulds’ never dominate my thinking. There is no jury sitting in judgment on my life. I am not expert but I can say from experience that worrying/over-thinking is a mental habit that can be broken. One can train one's brain to look at life from a different perspective.
You can tame your overthinking habit if you can start taking a grip on your self-talk — that inner voice that provides a running monolog throughout the day and even into the night. Pay a little more attention. Find a constructive way of processing any worries or negative thoughts. I write my thoughts down in a journal. Sometimes that can afford a sense of relief. Becoming self-aware of my emotions and train-of-thought helps me take control. "Change your thoughts and you can change your world." - Norman Vincent Peale
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