“The more time I spend with my thoughts, the more I realize how pointless everything is. There’s always going to be someone more educated than me, so why go to college? There is always going to be someone more successful than me professionally, so why hustle? Thousands of brands in the world, why spend money on stuff that we know we can’t afford yet chose to buy because we can talk about it in a social gathering. We don’t have a social gathering anymore; it’s all on social media. People flaunt how perfect their life is, posting pictures of their expensive items, their fancy restaurant meals, their trips to exotic places in the world, while I go through their instagram stories viewing their lives, wishing it were my life with absolutely no money in my bank account. This makes no sense. Now I’m thinking about different ways to make money. As a student what can I do? Maybe work at a fast food restaurant, but they’re people who are in need of money more than me. They have families to take care of. I can’t take away such job opportunities from them. What if I start tutoring people? I can do that. I think I can manage it along with my university schedule. Okay so what subject am I good at, English? Meh… i can’t deal with the grammar, maths? Practicing it would take up more time, science? I hate physics. What if I’m not able to do it and the kid end up failing his/her exam. I don’t want that on my conscience. I’m out of options. What if i can’t do anything and end up being a waste of space? No skill, no job, no money, no life. I have no future…”

What you just read might not make sense to you, but at some point of our lives we’ve all been in a situation where our trail of thoughts start with something as simple as thinking about your favorite color but somehow you end up reevaluating your life. During this time, some of you might feel your heart racing; you’d feel this burden on you that keeps getting heavier as you get deep into the matter. For some it is not just a onetime thing, this is part of their everyday life. Making decisions is hard, because once you enter the realm of overthinking, it is a downward spiral from their onwards. Mental health problems like depression and anxiety are associated with it. People have been told to stop overthinking, but only if it was that simple. The question is how can you control this thought process that is detrimental to your mental health? Here’s what you can do:

• Engage in an activity, for example a sport or work out. The more time you spent exercising, the less your mind will think about inner worries and tension.
• Adopt a hobby, for example learn to play a guitar or start painting, this could introduce you to a whole different world of artists that can inspire and motivate you to be more creative.
• Meditate: spend time relaxing your mind, because it is important for us to realize that we can’t control everything. Thinking about climate change? Start from yourself; get rid of all things that can potentially harm the environment. Reduce, reuse and recycle.
• Make short term plans: The more goals you achieve in a short amount of time, the more relaxed you’d feel about your future.

This might work for some but for others, it could be a temporary fix. It is suggested that if it starts affecting your routine, you should seek professional help. Pukaar is a community that has a team of professional psychologists to guide you through your journey to overcome overthinking and help you control and focus your mind, so that you can bring the chaos inside you to peace.

Written by: Izza Raza