QUITE a few things stood out to me while doing this week’s quota of writing. Many things worth writing about, worth mulling over and pontificating on.
The thing about having a breadth of options is that there is the time involved. The time it takes to choose. And with this week, I found myself unable to make that choice, no matter how much time I took to mull over my options for this column.
Ought I have written about delicadeza, as the mayor finds himself embroiled in scandal? Maybe it was more appropriate to have written about how the council is now seeking to make BIMP not mandatory, as should be. Perhaps I could have dug deeper into matters such as these.
But I think it is worth writing about the process of thinking about what to write about. The decision-making process is always something worth breaking down consciously. I try to think of things when possible, to analyze moves in order to reach the best outcome.
This piece is not about that. It’s about the exact opposite.
Overthinking to the point of paralysis is not exactly an uncommon scenario. The bigger the decision to make, the easier it is to fall into the trap of analyzing every nuance of it.
And yet at many points, we find ourselves doing the same thing for matters which do not deserve such marked attention. Each choice is made with a certain weight to it, that which we deem appropriate for the matter at hand.
While appropriate for major decisions, it must be remembered that in the end, a choice must be made. We do not have the luxury of pause, not forever.
With people such as myself, plagued by mental illness and bothered by anxieties over the smallest things without significance, it is worth remembering that breaking the cycle of overthinking is a conscious effort.
This effort can take many forms. I personally find that time is the best aid for digesting such indecision. I wrote in the past of the need to take some distance and space away from the task at hand, and now that time has passed after personal events that caused me no end of anguish, I attest to this method more than ever before.
The desire to have control over the events in our lives is perfectly normal. And yet, just because it is normal does not mean it must be entertained. There are many bad things that are perfectly normal in today’s society, even if they should not be.
Breaking free from this desire for absolute control is absolutely crucial to ending indecision. Absolute control is only possible with perfect information, which we will never have access to. As such, it is important to know when the choice being made has been deliberated on enough, and when to act.
Too often is thinking taken for granted. Many choices are made on reflex – the small actions, the small decisions ignored. I find that it is good to form a habit of overthinking a little and deliberating more. Consciousness is an important skill to form after all.
Think more, and discover when to stop thinking.
