I’ve Stopped Calling Myself an Overthinker
Thinking is the new black
The way we label ourselves affects how we perceive ourselves and our abilities — but there’s a positive side to some of the things we attach a negative connotation to.
All my life I’ve called myself an overthinker, focusing on the constant rumination of negative thoughts, the indecision my overthinking sometimes led to, the stress and anxiety. And yes, these are indeed a reality of my life, there’s no denying that. However, I often failed to notice the other side of the coin — the positive part of ‘overthinking’. It dawned on me that even this can be reframed and rephrased — are we overthinkers? Or are we deliberate? Intentional?
When I sit in the sun on my balcony, I find myself thinking deeply about how the sun’s rays hit my skin and how the sunlight has travelled a very long way to reach me. Or when I hold my partner’s hand, I think about how intricate and beautifully random it is that our hands fit together. Or when my dog tries to catch a wasp (yes, I know, I am training him not to do that anymore), I think about how I have to help the wasp back outside with a silly cup or a piece of paper.
Perhaps we need to learn to see our overthinking nature as a strength rather than a weakness — after all, we wouldn’t be as creative as we are if we didn’t use this ‘overthinking’ (oops, I mean intentional) trait to our advantage. It’s not paralysing all the time, as we make it out to be. It’s also enriching and empowering.
It’s our strength.
How might your perspective on ‘overthinking’ shift if you reframed it as a deliberate or intentional trait?