From a young age I remember my mom telling me, “I’m sorry Hannah, I’m listening but you just don’t think simply… and I do.”
Whether it be comments like this or just being dubbed an “overthinker” I have always been made aware of how much I think… as if I didn’t know it full well already. I think so much that my boyfriend (at the time I wrote this) gifted me a beautiful journal and ink and pen set for Christmas so I would have one more place to put all my thoughts (not just in his ears). Believe me I was more than grateful for this gift. A journal or a book will always be one of the best things anyone can get me but it did bring back to mind my constant preoccupation with thinking.
Over the past year or so I have been trying to look at the way my mind works in a more positive light. I remind myself constantly that thinking and thinking deeply is not a bad thing in and of itself, but it’s what you do with those thoughts that can make it positive and productive. Trying to rid myself of the negative connotations that come with the label “overthinker” has been difficult. Whereas the label undoubtedly fits, I want to re-brand it. I want to take this term that conjures a person who just thinks for the sake of it, doesn’t let anything go, is over analytical and has no control over their thoughts and emotions - and flip it around focusing on some of the more positive elements. I want people to see that an overthinker is also someone who is understanding, wise, adaptable, sympathetic, and curious.
And that is what this blog is for. It’s a platform for me to turn some of my crazy thoughts into something that is productive. It is a place to bounce around ideas with other thinkers in the world. And of course it is place where I, and hopefully others, can find freedom to think without criticism and focus on the positive elements of being a thinker.
What to expect? Probably some travel stories, fond recollections, academic jargon, attempts to solve the world's problems, and whatever else I fancy ;)
