Analysis Paralysis, commonly known as ‘Overthinking’ affects all of us in different aspects and areas in our lives. 73% of percent of millennials have an overthinking disorder. But what exactly is overthinking?
Overthinking can be defined as thinking about something too much. Upon reading this, you might think that you overthink too. But overthinking is not wondering or thinking about, for example, what you might be getting for dinner at home when you’re hungry. Wondering about everything happening in our lives is normal.
What sets apart overthinking from just thinking is that overthinking is excessive thinking, which brings about a sense of stress, anxiety, fear and dread in the mind of an individual.
Overthinking is not just thinking too much it is thinking about something so much that it affects one’s ability to fully function in their day to day lives.
It is a feeling of dread that one cannot get over, it makes one feel like everyone else’s problem is their fault and it makes them feel utterly hopeless about a particular situation like he\she will never ever find a solution to the situation.
Overthinking is not constructive thinking. It eats away at a person, like a parasite, it thrives, feeding on negative feelings, anxiety or further stress about a situation.
It makes a person jump to conclusions and read into situations unnecessarily and the person’s deductions are not necessarily true, which makes the person insecure and indecisive about their next move.
Overthinking causes thoughts to run through one’s mind endlessly and continuously. This can take a toll on one’s body, which makes them feel tired but still wired with thoughts. Thinking too much can make a person physically and emotionally unwell as it does not stop and makes one jump to the worst possible outcome.
Further, another dangerous result of overthinking is that sometimes we repeat the negative conclusions that we make in our heads to a point where our mind starts believing that that particular conclusion is a fact, which further depreciates one’s mental wellbeing.
But the one strength that we have against overthinking is that it’s all in our heads. Instead of jumping to conclusions or thinking about the worst outcome, we can teach our minds to confront the situations which give us anxiety head-on and train our minds to positively approach the situation with solutions.
Our minds can be thought of as little puppies. We need to continuously and ceaselessly reinforce the thoughts we want in our head. If we don’t, the ‘puppy’ will not listen and do whatever it wants. Positive reinforcement is integral to stop overthinking. The best part of this is that we ourselves can solve this issue in our minds.
In conclusion, although overthinking is a serious problem, it can be resolved by using positive reinforcement and other methods like counselling. Furthermore, even when a problem might seem like the end of the world, there is always a way out.
