After a long time, I found my thoughts taking shape through scattered mental fog. It has been a quiet period in between. A period marked by deep introspection and insights in solitude.
I wonder why I chose mental isolation over everything else. Probably, my thoughts wanted ‘me time’. Or was it that my mind needed a break? It had certainly tired itself out. Thinking and re-thinking about what’s on top of mind is not easy.
Don’t overthink
I have no idea why thinking about ‘what’ can go wrong–rather than what can go right–has earned itself a bad rap. It’s not pessimistic at all to envisage end to end scenarios, use your intelligence to work out different results, or plan ahead. Is it?
The brightest brains in multinational corporations do it all the time. Strategists and master planners are working non-stop with SWOT analyses tools and other forecasting software to draw inferences that help management take decisions.
If the act is acceptable in business environments, then what’s wrong about assessing your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats to chalk the way forward in life?
What’s inappropriate about creating hypothetical situations to derive clarity? What’s ‘paranoid’ or ‘hyper’ about covering larger grounds to ward off fears and doubts as far as possible?
Is that overthinking?
If yes, so be it.
I am glad that I have the courage to take vital life decisions on my own. So far, such decisions have mostly been a result of overthinking. And they have nothing to do with my being an MBA, teacher, researcher, writer of thought-leadership content or someone who thinks too much.
I am sure that we have all tread this path. We have all thought and re-thought about the pros and cons of making any decision a good one to evade problems later on. In my opinion, it’s absolutely right to do so if it does not seriously influence any situation or entity.
Coming back to where I left my train of thoughts, maybe those on higher grounds know what I will eventually decide. But the route to that decision has to be mine.
The time required to say yes or no to anything or anyone has to be decided by me. After all, the repercussions are for me to bear and I can always see them hurtling down at full-speed!
Learnings from past lessons
Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t think all this can be labelled as overthinking. I would define the process as a thoughtful one that draws upon lessons from the past, works on present day variables, and has the potential to hold solid ground in the future.
So, why shouldn’t I challenge every defeating thought that comes in the way? Why shouldn’t I read between the lines and small print (metaphorically speaking) to come to logical and workable conclusions only?
I feel there is very fine line between overthinking and thinking. This line can be thick or thin, long or short, or bridge a wide or narrow gap.
Strangely, this line is always drawn by someone else.
Not me.
Maybe it is now time to turn the page
Going forward, I feel life is too volatile and uncertain in today’s time to make any fancy assumptions or build fragile castles in the air. It always was. But today, we have all plummeted to ground reality and that’s where the truth of every decision lies.
It’s unfair for caretakers and those in a position of responsibility to be branded as overthinkers. They should be allowed the space and time and exercise their discretion since no one else is going to do so on their behalf.
No one else would want to be held responsible for saying yes to what can go wrong, or for that matter, no to what may go right!
Why? you may ask.
That’s because it can be tiring, time consuming, difficult and stressful to think.
Leave alone overthink.
I wonder if you’ll resonate with these thoughts….
