Overthinking

I am a chronic overthinker. My 20s were a time of immense personal growth for me. I finished college, got married, had two great jobs, bought a house, got a graduate degree in a hot field, took some cool trips, had a kid and…

Now I’m 31 and I have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life. I’m still blessed with a sweet family and a new baby boy. But I couldn’t possibly feel more stuck than when I think about how I want to spend the time that makes up my next decade. It can be frustrating as hell.

The only thing I know to do is to concentrate less on a particular outcome (because I don’t know what I want that outcome to be), and to focus more on the systems and habits that can lead me down a path of satisfaction regardless of where specifically that path takes me. Acquiring new skills, staying healthy and getting healthier, writing, dreaming, doing the things that will serve me regardless of what my next “it” is.

I can’t imagine that I’m alone in this. So if you’re an overthinker, know that I’m right there with you. I don’t know that there is a cure, but I do know that things usually work out.