If Overthinking Is a Curse, Why Did Krishna Say “Think Deeper”?
Riya Kumari | Jul 10, 2025, 23:40 IST
( Image credit : Times Life Bureau )
Highlight of the story: Okay, so quick question: why is it that whenever you’re staring at the ceiling at 2:47 a.m., replaying that awkward thing you said in 2016, someone’s always ready with the very helpful advice, “You’re overthinking again. Just let it go.” Oh, I’m sorry, Jessica. Didn’t know I could just CTRL+Z my brain. But then, you open the Bhagavad Gita, and there’s Krishna—yes, that Krishna, calmly telling Arjuna, mid-existential-crisis, to “think deeper.”
There are people who ruin everything good without meaning to. Not because they want chaos. But because some part of them believes they don’t deserve peace. If that’s you, if you're stuck in your own head, spiraling, second-guessing, replaying every failure, every awkward moment, every time someone walked away, then you already know what I’m talking about. You’ve lived inside a brain that talks like a bully and thinks it’s protecting you. You sabotage relationships before they leave you. You choose pain over peace because pain feels familiar. And you don’t even hope for happiness anymore, just that time will fast-forward to some perfect version of life where you’re no longer “this.” But here’s the quiet truth no one says: You don’t hate yourself. You hate the story you think you’re trapped in.
There’s a version of you that got built out of fear. The one who pushes people away because closeness feels dangerous. The one who stays up all night thinking about everything wrong with you, like shame is your bedtime story. The one who jokes about being a mess because secretly, you believe it’s true. The one who ruins good things just to confirm what you already believe: I’m not worthy of this. I always mess it up.
But here’s the thing: That voice in your head? The cruel one? It’s not wise. It’s not truth. It’s a wounded version of you that got too good at predicting pain, and now doesn’t know how to stop creating it.
You keep waiting for a day when you’ll finally be perfect enough to deserve ease. When you’ll be smart enough, calm enough, healed enough, attractive enough, just enough, to finally let yourself feel good. But perfection is a moving target. And the more you chase it, the more you confirm that who you are now is not okay.
So you keep rushing through life like it’s a hallway you don’t want to be seen in. You hope time will erase you fast enough to deliver you into a version of yourself you can finally accept. But what if the thing that needs to change isn’t the future? What if it’s the way you’re talking to yourself right now?
If you’ve ever read the Bhagavad Gita, there’s a moment where Arjuna is frozen in despair. Not a little sad, paralyzed. Hopeless. Wants to give up everything. And Krishna doesn’t dismiss it. He doesn’t say “Snap out of it” or “Be grateful” or “Manifest better.” He tells him: Look within. Go deeper. See what’s true, not what fear is telling you. That’s what this is about.
Not pushing down the self-hate. Not slapping fake confidence over real pain. But recognizing that the voice sabotaging your life isn’t your highest self, it’s your hurting self. And that part of you doesn’t need punishment. It needs patience. It needs honesty. It needs you to stop believing it’s the only voice that matters.
You’ve tried, haven’t you? Tried being harsh with yourself, thinking it would keep you in line. Tried guilt-tripping yourself into change. Tried throwing people away so they wouldn’t see the mess you think you are. But all it’s done is exhaust you. Make you lonelier. More distant from the very life you wish you could live. So what if, just for a second, you did something radical?
What if you didn’t try to fix yourself, but to listen to yourself?What if you saw your worst habits not as failures, but as survival tactics that have expired?What if you allowed the part of you that’s tired of being tired to finally speak?You don’t need to become perfect. You need to become honest. And then, gentle.
You’re not broken. You’re just in the middle of a story you haven’t finished telling yet. You’ve hurt yourself. You’ve hurt people. You’ve pushed away the few who stayed. Not because you’re bad. But because somewhere deep down, you thought pain was the price of being you. But what if that’s not true? What if the person who made all those mistakes wasn’t trying to ruin everything?
What if they were just scared? And what if the most powerful thing you could do now… is forgive them? That version of you still lives in your head. But it doesn’t have to run your life anymore. Let them rest. And let you begin. The you that doesn’t want to fast-forward anymore. The you that’s not perfect. But finally, finally, free.
The Self You Built to Survive Is Now the One That’s Suffocating You
Love
( Image credit : Pexels )
There’s a version of you that got built out of fear. The one who pushes people away because closeness feels dangerous. The one who stays up all night thinking about everything wrong with you, like shame is your bedtime story. The one who jokes about being a mess because secretly, you believe it’s true. The one who ruins good things just to confirm what you already believe: I’m not worthy of this. I always mess it up.
But here’s the thing: That voice in your head? The cruel one? It’s not wise. It’s not truth. It’s a wounded version of you that got too good at predicting pain, and now doesn’t know how to stop creating it.
The Lie of “Someday I’ll Be Better”
Gym
( Image credit : Pexels )
You keep waiting for a day when you’ll finally be perfect enough to deserve ease. When you’ll be smart enough, calm enough, healed enough, attractive enough, just enough, to finally let yourself feel good. But perfection is a moving target. And the more you chase it, the more you confirm that who you are now is not okay.
So you keep rushing through life like it’s a hallway you don’t want to be seen in. You hope time will erase you fast enough to deliver you into a version of yourself you can finally accept. But what if the thing that needs to change isn’t the future? What if it’s the way you’re talking to yourself right now?
What Krishna Would Say (And It’s Not “Just Think Positive”)
Punishment
( Image credit : Pexels )
If you’ve ever read the Bhagavad Gita, there’s a moment where Arjuna is frozen in despair. Not a little sad, paralyzed. Hopeless. Wants to give up everything. And Krishna doesn’t dismiss it. He doesn’t say “Snap out of it” or “Be grateful” or “Manifest better.” He tells him: Look within. Go deeper. See what’s true, not what fear is telling you. That’s what this is about.
Not pushing down the self-hate. Not slapping fake confidence over real pain. But recognizing that the voice sabotaging your life isn’t your highest self, it’s your hurting self. And that part of you doesn’t need punishment. It needs patience. It needs honesty. It needs you to stop believing it’s the only voice that matters.
You Can’t Hate Yourself Into a Better Version of You
Mirror
( Image credit : Pexels )
You’ve tried, haven’t you? Tried being harsh with yourself, thinking it would keep you in line. Tried guilt-tripping yourself into change. Tried throwing people away so they wouldn’t see the mess you think you are. But all it’s done is exhaust you. Make you lonelier. More distant from the very life you wish you could live. So what if, just for a second, you did something radical?
What if you didn’t try to fix yourself, but to listen to yourself?What if you saw your worst habits not as failures, but as survival tactics that have expired?What if you allowed the part of you that’s tired of being tired to finally speak?You don’t need to become perfect. You need to become honest. And then, gentle.
Final Thought
What if they were just scared? And what if the most powerful thing you could do now… is forgive them? That version of you still lives in your head. But it doesn’t have to run your life anymore. Let them rest. And let you begin. The you that doesn’t want to fast-forward anymore. The you that’s not perfect. But finally, finally, free.