The Dilemma of Overthinking
I get down to sleep easily when I have an exhausting day. I have also observed that I don’t even on some days. On those days I have been overthinking. Overthinking about what better choices I could have made in life. Of all the misses and could haves.
Overthinking doesn’t help. Being too self critical is also an addiction.
Mangesh, the auto driver, drives me back home from Office in the night. He starts working from 5 AM in the morning, works as a contract cleaner in the Pune municipal corporation. In the evening he drives auto to make ends meet. He says he cant keep his eyes open at 10 PM and invariably falls to sleep. Easily. Every day. There is no time for overthinking.
Next evening, I get home with Saif the auto driver. It’s the same story template. He works from 5 AM with his father making Paav (Bread) and distributing it to several bakeries. In the evening he drives rikshaw. Again no time for overthinking when he gets to bed at 10 PM.
In this You tube, Instagram reel age of youngsters minting millions in a day, others are forced to overthink. “If you are 32 and don’t have a many crore rupees in bank, you are a failure”. Shouts an influencer, selling his Rs 99 “Become a Crorepati” webinar. Selling the “Making money” addiction. It’s the new nicotine filled Cigarette. The more you get it, the more you want of it. In this filling of the endless pit lies the roots of overthinking.
Life is a test and not a place to get rewards and punishments. Life’s tests will eventually pass, and hope remains intact throughout the journey.
I am going to sleep and looking at the mobile next to me. Am I content with what I have or do I pick up the phone.