Can you believe that October is done too? What even is happening to the world and us. On a positive note, it’s closer to the end of 2020 and we can hope for a better 2021. Well, getting to the new post, it is probably just me talking to myself, thinking out loud or being home is driving me crazy, whatever the case, I am sure many will still relate. If there is something I am a pro at, it is overthinking. Who else? I am sure we all have those moments of just sitting and thinking endlessly about things and people, just ruining our sleep and peace in general. I wish I knew why we do that, but I guess that’s just human too.

Sitting here and writing this and parallelly also overthinking. Welcome to my world!

The pandora of overthinking

• “Why din’t I say that?”
• “Should I have done it differently?”
• “Will they think I am crazy?”
• “Why din’t I think about that?”
• “What if it was a mistake”
• “Why did I do that?”
• “Should I eat that?”
• “Is that good for me?”
• “Why is my skin so bad”

We all do that in our amazing spare moments or if you are pro, even otherwise. Cuz why the hell not!. If you haven’t ruined your sleep over things that din’t even matter the next year, have you even lived right? Come on.

All these jumbled up thoughts going in a million directions, finding no conclusion or end, going on for hours and for what?. It probably isn’t a problem, still it starts to become one and affecting us and our decisions to a large extent.

Your mind is a maze where you are constantly trying to figure something or the other out. It can be quite torturous and you really do not want to be in that place, cause let’s face it, who wants to be stuck/locked in their thoughts? Which basically brings us back to the cycle that it is.

Hello my old friend (demon)

I overthink every situation to an extent I feel like I ruin it, be it good or bad. Does that make sense? It’s like oh someone said that, what did they mean, what should I say, what shouldn’t I say, and it continues.

As I said, it is a cycle, to stop thinking a certain thing, you have consciously think about not thinking about it and think something else. Confusing much hello! It might root from various factors such as fear, emotions, situations, people or even professional. A lot of times, we really have no control over it and it is just something we get sucked into.

Also I don’t think being a writer helps, we can’t really write without wracking our minds for hours now, can we? However, as difficult as it maybe we have to train our brains to be more aware of what we are thinking about and whether if it even makes sense to do it. Distract yourself, do something, start talking to someone, read, breatheeee or just cry if it makes you feel better, really.

Is there a way out of it?

In a way to overcome overthinking or have it in control (make it more constructive, if I may put it that way), you need to think. Now don’t say what even are you saying right now. Most of the overthinking you are doing are things that don’t do us much good, are probably not relevant and pretty much just drives us towards anxious thoughts and restlessness. Ugh the midnight sessions, really! I feel ya.

However, what we instead could do it is convert these toxic thoughts into something that might actually be beneficial to us, even if it is something as simple as just relaxing your mind by watching an episode of friends or schitt’s creek (hello new obsession). There is no actual cure and we can’t stop thinking altogether, but what we can do this work towards a healthier mind that keeps us going. We have to do the best we can.

Alas, as I said in the beginning, it is only human to overthink, so don’t beat yourself too much. Be kind to yourself (my fav line, as you would have figured it out by now!). So, if you are one of the gang, don’t worry you have got lots of company. I hope we all find our peace.

– Until next time

P.S. I have read somewhere that overthinking could very well be a survival tactic. Maybe I should delve in to that further.

Do you think overthinking is a survival tactic or it’s just something our idle minds do? Leave your comments below.