The Overthinkers Guide to (not) Solving Everything

“Ugh, I should have sent ‘heyy’ and not ‘heyyy’ to Rohit, now he’ll think I’m needy”, “If I get a low grade on my calculus test, it means I’ll get a low GPA, which means I won’t get a job and would have no professional success”, “Would Priya still be mad at me because I didn’t invite her to my party 7 years ago?”

If you have ever found yourself stuck in a loop with similar thoughts, congratulations, you are officially an Overthinker.

Overthinking (v.): The art of solving problems that don’t exist — often twice.

Well, now that we have established that you are an overthinker, let’s get to how are we going to solve the gazillion problems you have. Oh wait, here’s the catch: you don’t have to!

Yes, you read that right! In a revolutionary turn of events, the burden of solving all of the world’s problems is not on you, my dear friend. But we understand the place where you are coming from. Often, we feel strongly about many things without knowing why we feel so. Replaying conversations, imagining future outcomes, or secondguessing decisions may feel like trying to get a grip—but often, it backfires. Instead of moving forward, we end up in a vicious loop and end up leaving ourselves worse off.

Don’t worry, Mushin’s advice here is not to simply tell you to “Stop overthinking naa”, but instead, here are a few things you can do the next time you catch yourself thinking about whether your friends still like you or not:

Step 1: Notice your thought cycle. The logic is simple: In order to stop overthinking, we first need to know we are overthinking.

Step 2: Make time-bound decisions. Set realistic deadlines about the time it will take to gather the necessary information to make a decision, and restrict yourself from devoting any further time on the activity.

Step 3: Take one step at a time. Attempting to solve every problem simultaneously typically results in overthinking. Instead of dwelling on the big picture, focus on the specific action you can do right now.

Step 4: And this our personal favourite: Take an imperfect action. In the words of gen-z, “nothing is ever that serious”. Jokes aside, perfection isn’t the goal, progress is. The longer you wait for the perfect plan or flawless execution, the more likely you are to get stuck.

While changing your brain’s tendencies might not be an overnight miracle, taking conscious efforts can lead to healthy results. And if all else fails, just act like a swiftie and “shake it off”.