Overthinking

Teacher III

Bataan National High School – Senior High School

In these times of ours in which concerns have not only been added to but multiplied, numbering far more than what our parents and grandparents ever had at the same age, we tend to overthink.

We tend to overthink on many issues, including the lesser or non-urgent matters that creep into our consciousness and add more to our already blurred view of the world.

Some information that we are anxious to know about may not be present at the time we start to overthink. Same is true with knowledge that has been there partly hidden or needs to be deciphered and overthinking does not help at all by either overshooting the target or missing the aim.

The trick for this is having the right mental tools for problem-solving by not overthinking but thinking about which tools to use, or combine for more complex situations.

Often, we are surprised how problems seem to solve themselves with us doing less and letting time pass. But not all problems are the same. Some problems when faced alone springs another smaller head that when attended to takes up more of one’s time, diverts attention and allows the main problem to grow larger than before.

While there is no single way to solve all problems, there are many solutions that specifically target a particular problem, or a part of it that will need another solution to be solved. It is in knowing which solution best fits the problem at hand, one that is not only effective but also efficient, as time is a very scarce resource.

It is difficult to know if one is overthinking at all. Probably a better way to check this is, if possible, share the problem with a trustworthy friend and find out other ways to solve a problem. Perhaps another perspective may lead you away from the path to overthinking.