overthinking example #1

A few weeks ago after dinner with a friend, we were talking about how she is so great and always herself and how I think too much about things and about what people think of me. I asked her how she got to be like that. “Do you like chewing gum?” she said. But I didn’t really get what she meant. How did chewing gum have anything to do with thinking too much? Then I thought maybe chewing gum was like thinking too much because both can have a laxative effect. At least with me. When the thoughts are especially stressful.

Chewing gum is also like thinking too much because it’s all fresh and exciting at the beginning, but then it loses its flavour and goes all grey and rubbery. That’s how ideas go when you think about them too much. They get a bit boring and just seem too difficult and so many things could go wrong and then you end up feeling tired before you even start so usually I find it’s best not to start at all.

I asked my friend if that’s what she meant. She said, “No, I was just wondering if you’d like some chewing gum after the coffee”.

Point made.