Everyone makes mistakes and many of us hold regrets. The decisions we make on a day to day basis are sometimes difficult. Sometimes you make a choice that differs from expectations, and that is okay. Maybe you made the right decision and it was a close call, that is okay too. Maybe you chose a course of action that has undesirable consequences, and guess what, that is okay. Your choices, decisions, and courses of action are all your own and very important. They never NEED to lead to regret as long as you have the right mindset. That mindset should be centered on using the decisions you make to traverse new lands of opportunity. Refrain from judging yourself on the road you took to get where you are today. Reflective thinking is always great, but overthinking can kill you.
Overthinking is what I do when I can’t figure out “why”. “Why did I do this? Why did I do that? Why didn’t I do this or that?” – and so on and so on. It keeps me up at night wondering how this single decision may have changed the direction of my life. I start to second guess myself, stutter in my words, and I find myself being less productive and efficient. That’s because I allowed my past choices to dictate how I feel about myself and control my entire life. It was as if all my thoughts and feelings were written all on my face for the people around me to see – which can be really embarrassing. Consequently, I became more self-conscious and self-deprecating, not allowing myself the proper channel to grow, and move forward.
There’s been times where I’d even run away from these problems because I didn’t want to think about them, preventing myself from becoming reflective on these thoughts when I couldn’t process them the first time. It hurt too much. Isn’t that crazy, my overthinking made me not want to be reflective. The reason I was so into my head was because I was so hellbent on being perfect, but I’m not, and no one is. The more I began to open up, the more I realized that everyone has their own problems, and that I couldn’t hold myself back because I think I made mistakes. Instead, I have to embrace them, rectify them, and move on, but I can only do that if I reflect on these thoughts and wrestle them. I turned self-doubt into self-confidence by changing how I perceive my own decision-making.. I became reflective in my thoughts, tried not to overthink, and have seen myself travel to higher places mentally, physically, and socially that I never imagined possible.
Every decision made has a consequence – good or bad. These choices and their inevitable outcomes should never be feared, but rather encouraged. Trial and error help build character. Using your past experiences as a guide to help build your future self is exactly what is needed, especially for young adults like us. In life, we make decisions every day, and some days we don’t feel like our best selves, so we don’t make the best of decisions. Knowing that, it set me free from my own mental captivity, and this was all realized when I stopped overthinking and started reflectively thinking.
