Last year, I gave a speech, Overcome Excessive Thinking, during Speech Meet. If you remember, I talked about how I had issues with thinking too much, which I refer to as excessive thinking, and, if you also do, how we all should stop worrying, the result of excessive thinking. Although I said during the speech that you should stop worrying and just do what you have in mind, I realized I was having a problem with worrying again.
I started my Youtube channel last summer as I had more time during the summer break. Once the school and college applications started, I could not even think about filming videos, editing, and uploading on Youtube because I was way too busy. By the time the 20% Project began, five months had already passed. Thankfully and surprisingly, my subscribers and views had been increasing, although I had not been uploading any videos. Since I had a long break, I also thought I should have a seemingly perfect video that would satisfy my own and, if there are any, others' expectations. I started over-thinking everything and worrying again that 1) I don't have a good editing program, 2) the postcards and the stickers from the "Youtube wall" I posted on the Naver Band had fallen off, 3) I don't have good video ideas, to name just a few. Then I realized one day, I should actually "just do it" rather than worry about all the scenarios that could happen in the worst case. The best possible solution for me was to just actually film a video and start editing so that I could run the cycle of my Youtube journey back agin, just as I did during summer. As if it was proving to my own worries, the process of filming one video, which is about how I studied English, only took me an hour. Then I spent just two more days downloading a new editing program, re-decorating my Youtube wall, brainstorming video ideas, and even buying a better tripod! What I thought would take forever just took three days without even stressing me out. I was solely happy about how I was achieving my goal bits and bits every single day. If you are similar to me, you might have dealt with thinking problems and worrying too much about unnecessary stuff. However, there are a lot of benefits followed by the action of simply starting on your work as shown through my previous week. I wish I keep my lesson from practicing this healthy habit and I wish all the same for you as well:) Just in case you forget what my speech was about: I have an addiction that I have had for 5 years. I am exposed to it from the second I open my eyes and to the second I close them. If you think I enjoy being addicted to it since there must be a reason that I have had it for 5 years, that is a huge misconception. It gives me stress and worries. Even more, I have to dedicate time: once, I spent hours and hours being addicted to it, which made me stay up all night. There are more problems with this addiction than those I have listed. But let us stop here and guess what my addiction is. Computer games? Youtube? Shopping? No. The real answer is thinking. You might be thinking, “An addiction to thinking? That is a joke!” However, once you get to a point where thinking becomes excessive, you will understand the consequences of this serious addiction. When I was young, my parents made me sit on a chair called the thinking chair as a punishment. The purpose of the chair was to make me figure out my faults by thinking deeply. So, I sat down on the thinking chair and started thinking. After a while, my parents would ask me if I realized what I have done wrong. I did and told myself that I should not do that again, which helped me grow as a better person. I am pretty sure we all have similar experiences as this. Then, why am I saying that I am addicted to thinking, giving a bad connotation to it, when we have been taught that thinking is good? It is because I am talking about excessive thinking, not just thinking, especially for students like us. Excessive thinking is unnecessary thinking, which, most of the time, makes us worry. Now, I will invite you to my thinking process to understand why excessive thinking is bad. Are you ready to think with me? As a student, imagine yourself stressed out because of SAT tests, colleges, and future. With the fact that I am also a student, thinking about these makes me stressed out even now. But let us find the roots of this stress so that we can defeat them. Are SAT tests and colleges necessarily bad? The initial purposes of them are to educate and lead us to grow as better students. Based on that, I do not think they are necessarily bad. Then, what gives stress to us? Actually, how we think about them gives stress to us because our excessive thinking judges them to be either good or bad. Moreover, worrying, the result of excessive thinking, causes not doing what we first wanted to do. To escape from the worries and stress, we just decide not to think and do what we have thought. This is from my experience and I believe we all went through this at least once. Okay, now we understand excessive thinking is bad. But how can we stop thinking when we are born to think except when sleeping? That is true, but there is a very simple solution to this. Do you know the famous advertisement from Nike, “Just do it”? Yes. The answer is to just do it. Enjoy the present, the state of consciousness. However, I don’t mean that we should waste our days unproductively. Do not forget to think about necessary matters such as our interests, values, or social issues. But do not let your excessive thinking block you from doing because you are worried. Stop worrying. Stop excessive thinking. Then, you will be able to enjoy the presence as it is a present.
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