The Groundwork of Overthinking

Overthinking - taking something normal and then casually warping it into something much bigger than what you initially had. "Happily" analysing things from multiple angles (refer to the earlier point I made about the phrase "I suck") to the point of redundancy is fascinatingly easy.

This point of over-analysing things constantly is THE problem when you think too much for your own good. Say, you're at a restaurant with your friends and you're getting ready to order. Normally, you would look at the menu and clearly and simply say what you want to the waiter. Thing is, us over-thinkers are edgy and we dislike being mainstream; this is exactly why we will rehearse (put heavy emphasis on the word "rehearse") what to say to the waiter so that when the time comes, we'll say we want tandoori chicken and not chandoori ticken.  

It goes farther. I've wondered for a while if anyone else experienced this (and then I found out that people actually have). A lot of times when I walk by a group and hear them laughing, my first panic-stricken thought is, "Oh God, they're laughing at me, aren't they? Is my shirt weird? Am I walking stupid?" And they aren't, my brain is primed into thinking such a thing regardless of whether I know the people in the group or not. Unless I'm ACTUALLY walking stupidly, in which case, I'd better fix that up quick.

I would absolutely love to say that overthinking is only triggered by situations happening in the present time, but guess what? Remember that one time you told the waiter you want chandoori ticken about 4 years back? Yeah, clearly the waiter went back into the kitchen and laughed at you for five minutes straight. 

Your expert abilities at analysing things with attention to the minute details are so admirable that when you finally come to the "solution", you somehow reached the cure for cancer using Einstein's Theory of Relativity instead of figuring out why someone has been "ignoring" you. Then, you proceed to thinking that your cure makes no sense so you sock that thing in the bin and keep looking for more "solutions". Frankly, the end result is hardly ever pretty.

Over-expectation is an issue too. Say, it's your birthday today (unless it actually is your birthday, in which case, happy birthday) and your best friend told you to meet up at a restaurant. Excited, you say you'll be there ASAP and then proceed to imagining what the situation would be like: you enter, find all of your close friends there and they decorated the place for you. Everyone shouts happy birthday and laughs at the expression of delirious happiness on your face and then proceed to cut your cake and have a wonderful time. Instead, you enter, find out your best friend is going to be an hour late and he/she got you a tiny cupcake, didn't invite anyone else and it's that same restaurant with the waiter who laughed at you. While it doesn't necessarily mean the situation is bad, it just gets painfully disappointing after all your expectations.

The only even remotely good thing about overthinking is that while it does make impulsive decision difficult or impossible, it minimises risks drastically sometimes and when you finally do settle on something, the sheer contentment is beautiful. Other than that, most of the people in this category can unanimously agree that the peace of mind is something over-thinkers often lack.

Rasheed Khan is a hug monster making good music but terrible puns and jokes where he"s probably the only one laughing. Ask him how to pronounce his name at aarcvard@gmail.com