Dear world,
It is a Monday morning, I have multiple assignments that have collected dust over the last week, I stayed up at night thinking deeply about how to craft a flawless study timetable and have managed to successfully hide from our school librarian. Can you believe I have had all these increasingly complex thoughts at only 8:40am in the morning? Throughout this omnishamble, I have managed to convince myself that I have disappointed everyone around me (yes this includes our librarian) and have dissected every text message and slightly abnormal tone from people I love.
By definition overthinking is “a state of excessive rumination or worry” where thoughts are replayed until one has managed to analyse them from every angle and reanalyse them… rinse and repeat. A 2024 study by Cambridge mentioned briefly that overthinking is a process by which we ask the wrong questions to analyse the correct issue.
You see, although I have micromanaged every single thought that has managed to materialise, reappear or shame myself for a thought that has dissipated, I have failed to deal with the issues at hand. Why? The answer is that overthinkers are stuck between a rock and a difficult place, you feel a sense of adrenaline thinking about the issue that becomes your state of being. Shaky hands, a tightness in your chest and insomnia becomes the daily diet of an overactive mind.
Maybe the solution to my obvious problem is to treat my brain as if I were a night club bouncer, handle one person at a time and take the night shift. When we schedule when we choose to deal with internal conflict, your adrenaline begins to feel like relief, you are carving time to feel emotions instead of shying away from them like a child who hides in a tiny crevice during a game of hide and seek.
How can you trust yourself to think in a productive way during times of inner turmoil?
From Juhi
I think the scariest part about overthinking is we kind of fall in love with it, and then build parts of our identity off of perpetual stress, and it stops our ability to enjoy those moments of peace between seconds, because we feel like life is only worth it when it’s a rush.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true, we start to chase the thrill of overthinking rather than becoming comfortable with a state of peace
DeleteI think you trust yourself to think productively during inner turmoil not by silencing the chaos, but by choosing when to let it speak and refusing to let it scream all at once.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100%
DeleteThe first step to overcoming overthinking is to catch yourself in the moment. You need be self aware in the moment. I'm a natural overthinker and although it does cause unnecessary anxiety, it did allow me predict outcomes before they happen. So overthinking can be positive if you can control it. An over analytical mind is not always a bad thing, you just need to have more self control and reign it in.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very authentic reflection although sometimes I wonder whether predicting the outcome is a response to trauma or an indication of helpful anxiety
DeletePOV - Overthinking can be good and bad. Not all overthinking is bad, it becomes unhealthy when it becomes chronic overthinking.
ReplyDelete