You must have come across the famous sculpture -‘The thinker’ – a man sitting with his chin resting on the back of his hand, the elbow on his thigh.
Now if we were to make one, similar to this, except that he is leaning his head into his hand, this could be titled ‘The over-thinker’.
He may not be able to sit still though.
He starts with thinking about all that can go wrong with his plans. Not just one step ahead, his special brain thinks five steps ahead for him. Giving detailed sketches of everything that can go south.
And what makes him worry are not all these super realistic presentations but that he constantly dwells on them. Unable to decide or to take a chance.
If only he did, he would know that, no matter what, he would have gained a valuable experience.
The next thoughts involve more people and those horrid, useless questions- ‘what will they say? What will they think about me?’
As if people exist just to revolve around you, to see what you are up to and to criticize you. Just like the Truman effect or the beginning of paranoia.
No, they are not ‘out to get you’. Simply because they too have a long list of decisions to make and to wade across their own life’s worries.
There may be a few jobless people who only show up to nitpick. But these are the foremost ones that you will have to train your mind to ignore, completely; because these are the ones who will have something to say no matter what. There is no way you could please them.
Remember what the well-known Aesop’s fable of a man, his son and their donkey, taught. There is no way you can please everyone, and if you do attempt it, the only one at loss will be you.
So chuck those worries out of your head. Think what is needed, and, sure, your mind would want to go through all the possibilities, but stop at that. Anything beyond that or constantly carrying on about one decision, is only going to make you age quickly.
Life is too short to over-think.
As Najwa Zebian beautifully puts it-
‘These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.’
