FEARS

My Biggest Frenemy: Its Majesty, Overthinking

“If all problems are in our heads, how to get them out?” 

And that is how my brain, hindsight, and perfectionism usually take me to the land of overthinking. Sometimes it leads to pondered decisions and razor-sharp words, and sometimes… It takes hours to tailor an answer on WhatsApp.

But here’s the upside: I can’t stop until I find the perfect solution. New Year’s Day, birthdays, Christmas—doesn’t matter. My brain never clocks out. Like a neural network, it tirelessly runs calculations, sorting through scenarios and anticipating reactions. Hours later, I land on the perfect answer.

Whether crafting a tagline or texting someone I shouldn’t (oopsie), the result is the same: a vividly tailored response that is 100% honest. I can finally exhale, hit “send” or “publish”, and move on.

Sounds familiar? I bet it does. We all get obsessed with our ideas, don’t we? Neuroscientist David Edelman, author of The Creative Brain, says problem-solving is like a puzzle we never stop working on in the back of our minds.

If that doesn’t sound too weird and feels oddly relatable—let’s grab a drink and overthink together. I’ll take coffee, but feel free to spill some tea: milaivakhnenko@gmail.com