Do you overthink things?

[craigwend]

Funny how we call it 'overthinking' ( or over analysing or other positive descriptions etc.) & don't label / recognise it as 'worrying' and then recognise how much time we spend doing it...

 

[gbb]

Funny how we call it 'overthinking' ( or over analysing or other positive descriptions etc.) & don't label / recognise it as 'worrying' and then recognise how much time we spend doing it...

Exactly why I labelled it potentially dangerous...it had quite a catastrophic effect on me for years. When does it move from being 'overthinking ..to out of control'...it can overlap without you even realising.

 

[Saluki]

Sometimes, yes.

 

[Drago]

No. Well, actually, now I think about it...

 

[anothersam]

An example from my life: I might write something, then prepare for various responses. The wargaming can be pleasant, even for a pacifist like me. However, you can end up digging all kinds of rabbit holes in your brain that way. I later realised that not all surprises are bad, and perhaps it might be better to go with the flow.

The classic overthinking comes from Idiocracy.

Spoiler

”I’m gonna f*ck all of you-all”

View: https://youtu.be/XZde5VDAA8U

 

[Archie_tect]

Thinking time is never wasted... what they describe is the inability to make a decision which is entirely different.

 

[anothersam]

Epic indecision yes, but I reckon there was a good amount of overthinking in their conversations over the years.

 

[mudsticks]

Thinking time is never wasted... what they describe is the inability to make a decision which is entirely different.

I'd agree, thinking is one of my favourite pasttimes.

But even the inability to make a decision can be instructive.

It may be that the question or conundrum is defective, or poorly framed.

Or irrelevant.

Or that the 'thinking' itself needs sharpening up.

Another perspective can help.

Hence the 'joy' of forruming I spose.

 

[Salad Dodger]

In everyday life I don't think that I overthink things.
But when making a larger purchase - say a second hand car or a new guitar - I will analyse and overanalyse my thoughts, talk myself into and out of making the purchase, loads of times before actually committing to it.
It would be no good me going to an auction! By the time I made up my mind to bid on something, they'd be 3 lots further on......

 

[mudsticks]

Epic indecision yes, but I reckon there was a good amount of overthinking in their conversations over the years.

That's precisely why I decided it was my duty to breed in a 'haphazard' fashion.

Otherwise my epically intelligent genes would have died out.

Trouble is idiocracy is basing its premise on the idea that 'intelligence' is necessarily heritable.

But there's far more to it than that.

And who measures intelligence, and how?

Plus 'cleverness' as given in the examples, can easily be used for selfish purposes that work against a good society, as much as for socially helpful activities.

I know many good hearted people of supposedly 'low IQ' who are of great 'benefit' to the world.


Conversely I also know some proper bright ones, who are total @rshols..

 

[Fnaar]

Yes, it's one reason I don't post much beyond jokes and the odd short remark. By the time I've read and reread what I've written, more eloquent people than me have posted exactly what I wanted to say and I just end up clicking "Like" on their post instead.

Edit: I just edited that post as well, as if to prove my point.

I just did exactly what you wrote about

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Yes, its always been a fault of mine, I tend to over think things and worry too much about stuff I shouldn't worry about. The person that helped me a lot with this was my first yoga teacher, she taught a lot of meditation and I learnt to switch off the voice in my head a lot of the time and give myself some peace.

 

[byegad]

Lady Byegad does. Her friend sounded 'odd' on the phone the other day. Two hours later she'd convinced herself that her friend had a family tragedy in the offing and called her again. She'd been busy with one of her grandchildren, at the time of the first call.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I saw this last night. I've been thinking about how to answer it ever since.

...but yet, horribly!

 

[Sterlo]

Definitely. I always been guilty of overthinking, especially in a bad way. If something has gone wrong, I always think of the worst possible outcome and then can't get it out of my mind. I could never switch off after work and would worry about what had happened during the day and what would the worst consequences be the next day, of course 99% of the time, they never came to light.
I've got a little bit better over the last couple of years, I've tried to go with the "what will happen will happen" scenario as there is usually nothing I can do to change it anyway.