Provided by K.A.L.T from Kalt In Thought

   I’m sure that many of us are guilty of overthinking.

   We assess our every action and regret any action that brings about a not so favorable consequence. However, doing so is nothing more than pointless overthinking.

Why is it pointless?

   It is because no matter what the consequences are, you never know whether making a different choice would have resulted in a better result anyway. As we go through life, we are forced to make decisions without the hindsight that we gain after the moment. Thus, all we can really do is accept the choices that we have made and simply move forward.

   We cannot afford to spend our time idling and contemplating our every decision. All that would do is leave us feeling nothing but regret and shame, forcing us to a standstill. Not only is it pointless, but it is also harmful to ourselves.

   Of course, to not overthink is much easier said than done. Especially for those of us who are generally more negative due to our personality. For some of us, every mistake we make eats away at us, and we feel helpless. Every mistake we make deepens our sense of inferiority and hopelessness. We overthink and end up hating ourselves more and more.

   Unless we have friends to pull us out of our downward spiral, it would be near impossible for us to recover. Society places much emphasis on results and achievements that if we have no one to recognise our good efforts despite a lack of spectacular results, maintaining a good attitude towards our work would prove difficult. Especially when one has convinced themselves that their hard work is meaningless and that they cannot ever produce good results no matter how hard they try.

   How did one or perhaps a few bad results cause us to believe that hard work is meaningless? This is where the root of the problem lies.

   We overthink. We think that our every mistake has a much larger negative impact than it actually does. We take a normal mistake that anyone could have made and make it exclusive to ourselves. As if we are the only ones who would have made that mistake. In a sense, we overthink because we overestimate ourselves. We think that we should not have made such a stupid mistake that has led to such drastic consequences. We beat ourselves up over anything and everything. Due to the fact that we think too much into it, we fail to see it as it is.

   A simple mistake that can be resolved easily if we just calm down and think.

   Of course, this is just one example of something we may overthink about. There are many things that we could possibly overthink about in life. Sometimes, it may be better to not think too hard if we want an easier life. As the translated lyrics of“僕が死のうと思ったのは”by amazarashi goes,

“The reason I can’t stop thinking about death must be that I take living too seriously.”

   I’m sure many of us have felt this way before. We ended up worrying over every little thing and ended up being worse off than those happy-go-lucky “idiots” who seem to be putting in far less effort into living life than we are. It’s frustrating. So frustrating that sometimes it makes us want to just die. It makes us feel like we just aren’t cut out for this world…

• Why do we torture ourselves with excessive thoughts?
• Why can’t we live a carefree life like those “idiots”?
• When will we stop overthinking?

   No matter how pointless we realise it is, thoughts will continue to fill our heads if it is in our nature. The only way we could possibly counter all these messy thoughts would be to have an outlet. Be it writing, talking with friends or simply ranting to whoever is willing to listen. Whatever it is, we need to release all our pent-up thoughts.

   Only then could our pointless overthinking perhaps have some meaning.

   After all, don’t we all love it when we find a post online that describes exactly how we feel and think? If we can successfully put into words our otherwise messy thoughts as a result of “overthinking”, there may be people out there who appreciate it.

   Despite me saying all this, it does not change the fact that we should not OVERthink when making decisions. We should go through life making whatever decisions we feel is right and reflect deeply on them after. There is no such thing as pointless overthinking unless we let it lead to a never-ending session of self-depreciation.  Any thought put into a proper reflection is a step closer to finding ourselves in this world. In this world with no answers available to us, we wander along the infinite paths laid out in front of us.

   Are you an overthinker? If you are, do you believe you’d be better off caring less and thinking less? Or do you perhaps believe that there is no such thing as overthinking?

– K.A.L.T