Mrinmayee Sama (Week 7) - Overthinkingness?!

 Mrinmayee Sama - Week 7

Overthinkingness?!

    Have you ever seen those scenes in a movie where the cartoon character writes something and then deleted it and then writes something again and then deletes it again? Well, that's me currently because I can't seem to find the correct words to type (mostly cuz I haven't done this in a good 3 weeks). Now, why am I pulling up this example? Well, it's because this is my brain constantly during a Socratic seminar, speech, a talk with my teacher, and other nerve-wracking instances. 
It's giving me Socratic seminar ✨

    Now, this is called overthinking and it's so annoying because every little thing is made into a big deal and unneeded details are then introduced. For me, this leads to being unexpressive because then I consider everything and think of the possibilities as to what is going to happen if I say something rather than something else. 
    When I tell someone that I am not really expressive, they think that I am trying to make an excuse and that I don't want to tell them what I'm thinking, but trust me I don't even know what I'm thinking. Now I'm just blabbering about my life. The main point that I wanted to touch on is that I am not expressive and that is because I don't feel validated about my opinions in my head. Memoryish? I can't express my feelings in words because I feel that there are consequences. Language. Boom, connection. yay :D
    This entire situation takes a toll on my memory because it's just like dreams: I think of it as a real situation and forget that it's just imaginary. For example, I'll be under the impression that I did my blog yesterday, but when I look at Blogger I realize that I was just overthinking about it (this is embarrassing...). 

PS: Note how this entire blog is black and white except for the yellow spark, well that's cuz I'm indecisive. I have so many problems. 
Photo Source: https://lowres.cartooncollections.com/complaints-complaints_desk-complaints_department-constructive_criticism-customer-retail-CC70328_low.jpg

Comments

Naomi Lin said…
Hi Mrinmayee,
I feel like everyone has experienced a point in their life where they felt like their opinions were not valid, however, just to let you know, your opinions are valid. Maybe as people grow older, they can see that other people's opinions do not matter that much. If you spend all of your time thinking about whether you should say what you want, you will not be able to live to its fullest. I do think it is good that you consider the consequences before you act, because that is something I need to work on. I also sometimes mix up my dreams with my memories. For me, I don't think it's overthinking, probably just a bad memory paired with vivid dreams.
Andrew Chao said…
Hi Mrinmayee,
I think that overthinking has been something that has bothered me for my entire life. It mostly occurs on over thinking a simple question commonly getting it as incorrect. Also to tell you, your points are very valid and I guess it is just overthinking as a result of what opinions you get from other people. Honestly, I strive to do better and most of the time I just try being myself and not being the kind of person other people want to make me as. I think it is important to take into consideration being who you want to be and not be peer pressured.
Faith Tong said…
Hi Mrinmayee,
Overthinking is honestly so annoying! It’s as if our brain won’t stop chit-chatting, having to make an additional comment about everything we do. I also find myself thinking most of the time during the socratic seminar. I’ll think about what to say, when to say it, or if people will judge me for what I say. And in the end, my brain just shuts down. I really hope there’s a way to cope with overthinking because it’s endlessly tiring and annoying to deal with all the time.

Sincerely,
Faith Tong
I can relate to overthinking very well as I also have the same problem when participating in Socratic seminars. I tend to form an idea and then try to figure out the best opportunity to speak and earn points but never get to convey my thoughts as other people end up saying something similar or completely switching the topic. I also can relate to thinking about many different possibilities before doing something, which ends up becoming counterproductive as it slows my progress.
Simran said…
Hi Mrinmayee. I can definitely relate to your post. I have often struggled with overthinking when writing. One technique I use to prevent overthinking when writing essays is on my first rough draft, I write as much as I can without trying to focus on whether it is repetitive(which is usually is) or whether it is grammatically incorrect(which it also usually is). This technique really helps me because the next time I look at my paper, I am able to see all the ideas I wrote down, and then I just have to worry about putting them into a functional essay. Unfortunately, I can’t use this technique when writing a timed write, so if you have any tips about timed writes, please let me know.
angie cheng said…
HELLO MRINMAYEE, MEMEMEMEMEMEME I LOVE OVERTHINKING SOMETHING TO THE POINT OF NO RETURN!! Also, thank you very much for offering the pen in history to support my #campaign. Anyways, I feel like I overthink my own comments towards friends and all, knowing that it was probably nothing, but of course, there are those chances of those people actually taking offense to a very minimal thing. Usually though if I do begin the process of overthinking, I try to find more positive solutions or write everything down, then playing a game and ignoring it forever and ever(thats an exaggeration, it comes back a couple hours later).

Your new politician running,
A.O.C.
Angel Susantin said…
Hey Mrinmayee,
Oh boy, overthinking! I'm thankful that I can stop myself from doing that nowadays. Never thought that being so empty-brained could be so helpful! I used to (meaning like, a few months ago) overthink a ton. It would be incredibly annoying when I would overthink some action or comment I made while having a conversation with someone. After the interaction, I would think: "Was that too much?" and mend this dissonance by telling myself I should be more quiet or reserved. I knew it deep down that no one really cares or will commit to memory a random phrase I said, whatever it is, and I should just move on with my day. These kind of mental gymnastics can really train yourself to be your own accessible therapist!
-Angel Susantin
Erika Luo said…
Hi Mrinmayee,
This happens way too often for me whenever I types important documents such as essays worth a million points or test prompts. For some reason, the most basic words seem to slip out of my head and my vocabulary is reduced to that of a fourth grader. On the practice AP English Exam, I spent a solid minute trying to think of the word "demonstrate". As you could have probably seen during Socratic Seminars, my brain also completely forgets words at times. Thank you for consolidating me that I am not the only one who faces this problem.

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