Overthinking

At the end of this past curling season I won a door prize of a $10 gift card for Shoppers Drug Mart. It's a Canadian drug store chain, so I would have to spend it in Canada. No big deal; I'm there often enough.

The silly thing is, I began tying myself in knots mentally about when I'd use it and what I'd buy. This was special, I was thinking. It must be used wisely. It must be spent on exactly the right thing. I was treating the card as some sort of golden ticket rather than the effective ten dollar bill which is all it really was. 

Being in Toronto (which conveniently is in Canada) this past weekend, I finally spent it. As me son Frank and I made our way about town Saturday afternoon we stumbled upon a Shoppers. We stopped in and bought a pop and a snack each, and blew the card. Why? Because I finally told myself it was stupid to 'save' it. We were thirsty and vaguely hungry. Use the card.

The really dumb part was how relieved I was afterward. It was a weight off my shoulders, a burden lifted, to actually have spent that gift card. Silliness. But how better can you use a gift than with family on a short vacation? 

I really have to stop overanalyzing.

Think Inside the Box

Another phrase of which I think little (here he goes again) is when we are told to think outside the box. The fact is that there's nothing outside the box to think about.

Oh, I know what they, the infamous they, mean. They mean for you to be innovative and creative. That's all well and good. We need innovation and creation. The trouble is that there's nothing you can innovate or create without using tools and concepts which preexist your changes or inventions.

The artist cannot paint without a knowledge of the tools and practices of art. The inventor cannot invent without knowing the background of whatever field in which he is making something new. The atomic bomb wasn't made without making use of the existing laws of physics and the knowable rules of mathematics and mechanics. 

To be sure, a painting or the bomb didn't exist as such before their initial manufacture. Yet no one truly thought outside of any box in making them. They came about through the use of materials and intellect which were already there to be employed. So we can go ahead and throw thinking outside the box into the dust bin with all those other useless phrases which I rail so much about.

I Think, Therefore I Think Too Much

I think we worry too much. 

I think we overthink things too much.

I think we overanalyze too often.

I think I'll go to breakfast. There's no chance of me doing any of that there. 

Until I see the menu. Then all that thinking will interfere with simply ordering food. 

You know what I mean. There's just too many ways you can make an omelette. Or prepare eggs. Or have bacon or sausage of ham. Or white, wheat, or rye toast. Or coffee or orange juice. It's neverending.