We here at The Messenger like to utilize our place as a local outlet to ward our readers from the highly-sensationalized partisan politics and heavily-debated issues and instead turn to more wide-reaching topics that, unlike the aforementioned issues, affect anyone and everyone.
We recently discussed how bitterness, while a necessary evil and a knee-jerk reaction to some of life’s hardest lessons, will, in the end, rob you of your joy and preclude you from any type of happiness, even the most innocuous and circumstantial forms. Bitter people remain bitter because there’s power in anger and there’s power in stubbornness.
When was the last time you pity someone who lived his or her life following those mantras, even if the causes of his or her bitterness, anger, and stubbornness weren’t necessarily his or her fault? We never think it’s a good idea to remain in that mindset, so we try to help it whenever we can.
But another topic is more difficult to control, especially in an increasingly fast-paced, alarmist, and anxious world: overthinking.
Now, we here at The Messenger don’t like to speak down to anyone, especially since we have a couple of textbook overthinkers in our immediate circle. We may be many things – says you – but we’re not hypocrites. So, as iron sharpens iron, we hope you believe us when we say overthinking will easily rob you of your joy in the most deceptive way possible.
As humans, we love to be in control. This isn’t to say all of us are control freaks, although such a case could be made for some of us, but many of us have a need to know what’s around the corner. This isn’t a flaw of human perception, rather it’s a great quality with which we were created, one that gives us foresight to see outcomes before they occur.
Or, so we think.
The reality is: the world is not yours to control. It’s a tough reality, and while most of us accept it at face value, we don’t passively accept it, because we overthink. Constantly ripping your hair out over career concerns, friendships, romance, family matters, finance, and worldviews isn’t exactly tackling a problem, it’s letting a problem tackle you.
This isn’t to say proactivity and conscientiousness shouldn’t be encouraged, especially in the finance department, but we can only get so granular until we’re simply not in control over a certain issue. It’s much, much easier said than done – again, we’re not hypocrites – but there’s an odd peace is being able to let go and understand there’s simply nothing we as humans can do about it.
Maybe this peace was more obtainable in a society built around God. Maybe alarmist and sensationalist news media has made it impossible for us to not sleep with one eye open. Maybe we let our social circles and obsessions get the best of us and allow us to not enjoy the ride.
We’re inclined to think it’s a combination of all three.
Trusting a divine plan, turning off the television and/or logging out of social media, and willfully removing ourselves from our echo chambers – even if we are surrounded by certifiably “good” people – will hopefully allow us to let go of things that are ultimately out of our control and maybe get a good night’s sleep while we’re at it.
The only benefit of overthinking is that you’re rarely blindsided by any one of an array of possible outcomes. This is good to keep in mind but can lead to near-incurable cynicism vis-à-vis “Lowered expectations is the key to happiness.”
We’re not preaching, since overthinking is one of the most difficult habits to break, but we’re simply trying to usher in a new era of thought and reverence.
You’ll get there, we’ll all get there. Overthinking just limits your ability to slow down and see some trees along the way.
