I overthink all the time, every waking second of the day I’m thinking, my mind is churning thoughts. It’s great in some respects, it gives me plenty of thoughts and ideas; I want to keep writing articles (at first, I was terrified to release what I’d written) because I love it dearly, I also want to start doing short films for my favorite video platform: YouTube, honestly, I want to write a book that gets published and I want to start a podcast show with a few friends. Yet…I only do one of those things, something I was terrified to do in the first place and almost didn’t do. The reasoning: I overthink all of it, how it’ll come out, how it’ll be received, if it’ll be embarrassing down the road. It’s an unbelievable, unconventional fear that drowns me at times. Yet, if I just “go for it” (my motto of 2017) I know I’ll get better if I keep going and going for it. My personal bar for my projects is very high, if something meets my personal bar: it should be released because it’s the best I can offer. Yet, not even that occurs.
There is this quote that I’ve seen and adore, it goes: “Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.” ― Suzy Kassem and it’s very true. In my own mind, I think of it as, “Fear is the harbinger of the death of a dream.” Life isn’t about being fearless, it’s not about not being scared because it’s okay to have fear and being scared…but it’s about beating fear and just going for it. If you fail, you don’t fail, you succeed at learning.
Some people view fear and what they’re scared of as different things. I’ve learnt, while combing through many motivational videos and quotes that it’s about perspectives. Casey Neistat (who I mention very often in my articles) says, “My focus is laser set on the future, I'm not looking back. All I see are bigger, scarier mountains that I will climb and stop at nothing, to get to the top of..."; I don’t view it that way. Maybe it’s because I worry one day I’ll be bit by a dog that can do real damage to me, but I view it in a this way: “I’ll keep running for what I want in life like there was a rabid dog chasing me down.” In order to not get bit, I have to keep running, I have to keep pursuing my goals and if I fail: I get bit.
When I overthink about my projects, about the fears surrounding them, I get too into my head. On the day I wrote this, what inadvertently led to this article, I had written down, “I need to try to just go for it in life, stop worrying what everyone else will think about it [the projects]. At least, unlike many, I tried what I enjoyed and loved.”
When I messed up this one time, I texted a mentor of mine what occurred because I was messed up about it, he told me (paraphrased), “It’s not about the mistake you made that defines you, it’s about the response that does.” If my first hundred videos fail and aren’t good: I just need to try harder. If my first rap EP isn’t up to par…I make a mixtape and place more effort. When I do write a book, if it’s not well received, I look at the critiques and learn from it. I just have to learn one very important thing: how to stop overthinking. It’s a mental lapse in my life that prevents these goals.
If you’re an overthinker: I think overthinking can be good, it gives so many amazing ideas and your head is spinning (people tend to think I’m on drugs at times with how quick my ideas come in; I assure you, I’m not), but the moment we need to stop overthinking is the moment we start working on the ideas we have compiled on a million pieces of scratch paper. To everyone reading this, even if you’re not an overthinker, just go for it. Be unapologetic in your pursuits, in your endeavors that make you happy in life. I believe I should start working more on the video I want to do or the book I want to write. Something that makes me happy, that moves me away from stagnation and something that brings me joy is what I believe I need to aim for; so should you. Finally, if you have a career or job you love: fantastic. If you have a job or career you don’t like: start small with the things you love. I’m a firm believer that if you’re good enough at something: people will pay you. If you’re doing something just to make money or become famous: it’s for the wrong reasons. That’s what tons of videos, quotes and books have taught me…along with a lot of overthinking.
