Confessions of an Over Thinker

You think too much. Don’t over think it. You analyze everything.

I can say that I have heard these words and variations of them my entire life. But what does it mean to really be an over thinker and why are people over thinkers?

From as early as I can remember I have been thinking too much about everything. Whether it be a business meeting, a standardized test, or a chance encounter with the opposite sex, my mind has analyzed and reanalyzed every small observation and detail that I was able to ascertain. Not only during such instances, but long after into the night, and the next day. The analysis part isn’t so bad compared to the outcome scenarios and judgement related to over thinking. It is not good enough to analyze every scenario inside and out. You must then judge each of the scenarios and critique every minute detail. Simply explained this generally falls into the category of “You cant judge me as bad as I can judge myself” or “You are your own worst enemy.”

This particular trait is one that can bring both success and failure. Success at a job, art, or skill, but at its worst failure in friends, companions, and life. Thus the double edged sword of the over thinker. If you constantly analyze every move you make and make judgement on them, you will improve in whatever area you are looking to improve in, yet your constant pursuit of perfection may alienate those that just want to live a Que Sera Sera life. Even if an over thinker seems to be acting spontaneously and even erratic, much like chaos theory and quantum mechanics there is usually an underlying reason and explanation for it all.

Now that I have sufficiently lost all but a small percentage of readers by mentioning quantum mechanics, and forever solidified a perception that I am an egg head, I will try to bring this mental rant into the station.

Over thinkers build our buildings, do our taxes, create our symphonies, treat our ills, and make our technologies that we take for granted every day. Forced to carry this mental burden, the over thinker like David Banner must wander in their head looking for refuge from the onslaught of information and thought that seeks them wherever they turn.

So in the end is over thinking bad? Is under thinking good? Will over thinkers ever find peace from their own thoughts? Will we one day find a cure for over thinking (there have been many attempts at a cure going as far back as the pre-Incan civilization Tiwanaku’s use of mind altering drugs and recently with the invention of a television show called Jersey Shore)? Will the over thinkers ever join forces with the over eaters and become the biggest and smartest group on the planet? Will over thinkers think so much that they use their over thinking to write a note on Facebook and share their over thinking with their friends, friends of friends, or everyone?

I will have to think about it.