Over Thinking

 Over Thinking

A Sixty-Word Short Story:

Jeff had checked off all of the right boxes, so it seemed for Sally, but she was still not sure about what her future with him might be like. She considered his age, health and overall disposition and point of view on life. They agreed on so many things, but still she ruminated on the “what ifs” and walked away.

And more…

All of us have faced a decision once in a while where we thought and thought and thought some more about our choices – sometimes to the point of so worrying about the outcome and possibly making a wrong decision about the future, that we ignored what was happening in the now, forgetting what we were originally attracted to. Like Sally in our story, we imagine a future fork in the road and therefore choose to get off of the path altogether. In essence we mentally manufacture a scenario based on imagination which may or may not be true or ever happen at all.

In these situations, it’s very human to rationalize that our mental makeshift story, like Sally’s, portends potential harm, or discomfort, so we walk away. But what if we get it wrong? What if we talk ourselves out of a good outcome because of some unfounded speculation that somewhere down the road this might be a bad decision? The answer is simple: nothing. Put another way, the things that we decided against are quickly forgotten and we move on. However, sometimes – rarely for some and common for others – we feel regret because we’ve thought ourselves out of an opportunity and only later do we feel its sting.

In life there will always be some regrets, which fall into two categories: One covers those experiences where we tried and failed and the other is where we didn’t try at all. The latter is the harder to live with because we literally don’t know what might have happened. At least if we tried and failed, we did something and can gain solace in the effort. Whereas not trying nets nothing. The point being is that we have the ability to over think, rationalize and worry ourselves right out of a good outcome. But consider this, like in our story with Sally, if the choice is not so absolutely clear and we have some doubts, we may be missing an opportunity of a lifetime; or not.

The Final Thought: Decision making is best when the choices are completely clear and inevitable. If not, perhaps we need to know more and taking a chance might be our best option.

* The Premise (Opening short story): Always 60 words. No more. No Less. For more stories like this and information about my books, please visit www.szenzone.com