What happens when chronic overthinkers finally achieve their goals? The strange discomfort of success and why your brain keeps looking for problems that don’t exist anymore.
The Problem With Getting What You Want
I got promoted last month. The job I’d been chasing for two years, the salary bump I’d calculated in Excel sheets at 2 AM, the recognition I thought would finally prove I wasn’t a complete fraud.
And you know what my first thought was?
“Yeh kuch galat hai. Koi na koi problem hogi.”
Because here’s the thing about being a professional overthinker — your brain is basically a security guard who never takes a day off. Even when the building is completely safe, it keeps patrolling, looking for threats that might not even exist.
Success, for people like us, feels like that moment when the music stops during musical chairs. You’re sitting down, you’ve won, but you can’t shake the feeling that someone’s about to tap you on the shoulder and say, “Sorry beta, galti ho gayi.”
When Your Backup Plans Have Backup Plans
For the past five years, I’ve been the guy with contingency plans for my contingency plans. Job interviews? I’d prepare for questions they’d never ask. Presentations? I’d have slides ready for scenarios that would never happen. Relationships? I’d mentally rehearse breakup speeches before the second date.
My friends used to joke: “Sandeep ka dimaag mein ek full-time planning committee baithi rehti hai.”
And they weren’t wrong. My brain operated like Mumbai’s local train system — overcrowded, constantly moving, and always assuming delays.
But then things started… working out.
The project launched successfully. The client loved the work. My boss actually said, “Well done” without adding “but next time…” The bank balance stopped looking like a cricket score from the 1990s.
Suddenly, my 24/7 crisis management team had nothing to manage. And instead of feeling relieved, I felt… lost.
The Anxiety of Having Nothing to Be Anxious About
This is the part they don’t mention in self-help books: what happens when you fix your life and your brain doesn’t get the memo?
“Ab kya tension lun?” became my new existential crisis.
My overthinking brain, deprived of real problems, started manufacturing new ones:
- “Maybe I don’t deserve this success.”
- “What if I can’t maintain this level?”
- “What if everyone finds out I’m just winging it?”
- “What if this is the peak and it’s all downhill from here?”
It’s like being a reformed smoker who still reaches for cigarettes during conversations, except instead of cigarettes, I was reaching for problems that didn’t exist.
I caught myself checking my email obsessively, not because I was expecting anything important, but because my brain needed something to worry about. I started creating elaborate worst-case scenarios about meetings that were going perfectly fine.
The Tea Stall Revelation (Again)
One morning, sitting at Raju chacha’s stall, I must have looked particularly disturbed because he asked, “Sandeep bhai, promotion mila na? Phir itna tension kyun?”
I tried explaining this weird guilt of success, this fear of peace.
He listened, stirring his tea with the patience of someone who’s heard every human complaint at least twice.
“Arre yaar,” he said finally, “tumhara dimaag na, ek security guard ki tarah hai. Duty khatam hone ke baad bhi gate pe khada rehta hai, socha kaam aa jayega.”
He pointed to his own setup. “Main 20 saal se yahan hun. Pehle sochta tha, ‘Agar customers nahi aaye toh?’ Ab customers aate hain, phir sochta hun, ‘Agar zyada aa gaye toh handle kaise karunga?’ Dimaag ka kaam hai problem dhundna. Tumhara kaam hai use batana ki ab break time hai.”
Learning to Sit With Success
The uncomfortable truth about achieving your goals is that success doesn’t feel like the movies. There’s no background music, no slow-motion celebration, no moment where everything suddenly makes sense.
Instead, it feels quiet. Almost boring.
And for overthinkers, boring feels dangerous. We’re so used to mental chaos that peace feels like the calm before a storm.
But here’s what I’m slowly learning:
Success isn’t a destination you arrive at — it’s a skill you practice. Just like overthinking was a habit I developed over years, enjoying success is a habit I need to build now.
Your brain will always find something to worry about. The trick is recognizing when it’s doing its job (protecting you from real threats) versus when it’s just bored and looking for entertainment.
Discomfort with good things is normal. We’re evolutionarily wired to scan for problems. When life is going well, your ancient brain thinks you’re being careless.
The Reformed Overthinker’s Survival Guide
1. Schedule worry time: I give myself 15 minutes every morning to catastrophize. Set a timer, worry intensely, then move on. It’s like feeding a pet — if you don’t give it scheduled attention, it’ll interrupt you all day.
2. Celebrate micro-wins: Instead of waiting for huge achievements, I celebrate small ones. Finished a task without overthinking? Win. Had a normal conversation without analyzing every word? Win. Slept without planning tomorrow’s meetings? Massive win.
3. Create “success anchors”: Write down three things going right, every single day. Not for gratitude journaling (though that’s nice), but to train your brain to notice good things instead of constantly hunting for problems.
4. Accept the weirdness: Success feeling uncomfortable is okay. You don’t have to enjoy every moment. You just have to not sabotage yourself when things are working.
The Uncomfortable Peace
These days, I’m learning to sit with the strange quiet of a life that’s actually working out. It still feels foreign — like wearing clothes that fit perfectly when you’re used to everything being too tight or too loose.
But maybe that’s the point. Maybe the real success isn’t achieving your goals. Maybe it’s learning to be okay with achieving them.
My brain still does its security patrol rounds, but now I tell it, “Thanks for checking. Everything’s fine. Take a break.”
And sometimes — just sometimes — it actually listens.
Success, I’m realizing, isn’t about fixing all your problems. It’s about being comfortable with the problems you choose to keep.
Next week: “Why Your 5-Year Plan is Probably Wrong (And Why That’s Actually Good News)”
Struggling with your own success (or lack thereof)?
Join the YogiWrites community where we overthink life’s big questions together — but in a productive way.
Internal Link Suggestions:
- Tea Stall Philosophers: Why Cutting Chai Beats TED Talks
- Neighborhood Barbers as Therapists
- Finding Wisdom in Everyday Chaos
Leave a Reply