Overthinking uncertainty

February 2023 (182 Words, 2 Minutes)

Uncertainty is a strange phenomenon. Those moments when you do not know what to do, those moments when you realize that the decisions you make now will affect your future, this is what makes one fear what may or may not happen. This happens a lot when one tries to decide on what path to take, whether it is choosing a career path, determining the best way to study, or figuring out what to say to a friend. It is almost paralyzing at times, especially when infinite amounts of options are available. Coupled with endless information ready to be consumed online, it leads to a losing battle. It may be that people who are more prone to perfectionism fall for this trap of “paralysis by analysis” than normal people. Since there is only so much time and energy that one can burn in trying to resolve the uncertainty, there comes a point where searching for more information or overthinking is not going to solve the problem. It may only lead to sinking more deeply into the abyss of indecisiveness. Instead, after some analysis and research, one must act, because continuing to procrastinate on the action will only waste more time as the mind continues to ramble on about why this or that decision is not the right one. Of course, it is best to make this decision calmly, so sometimes the best move is to sleep on the issue. But that is not always possible when you are in a constant loop of overthinking to avoid mistakes and eventual regret, especially if there is an urgency to act. But a call must be made, and when one is in the turmoil of the tropical storm that is the mind the only way to make a smart decision truly is to mentally take a step back, take a deep breath, and act. A mistake may be made and there may be a detail that you missed, but how would you have been aware of such nuance if you did not act in the first place? No one will ever know everything that there is to know because, after all, we are not gods.