How could you not feel overwhelmed when thinking long term from a rather persimmistic outlook that gives birth to possible pessimistic outcomes?
But at the same time, being "informed" of these possible outcomes does come with a good sense of calm as to whatever happens, one wouldn't be too surprised and there may be ways to remedy the situation.
It's an amusing thing to reject opportunities for reflection and decide to just get pre-occupied with work or all the other things happening besides work as opposed to unpacking and processing what has happened to just either digest it or learn a lesson or two from it.
Personally, I'm still leaning towards not every experience has to be reflected on at the moment, especially the ones that are a bit outside of the spectrum of mundane experiences. For example, losing/gaining a lot of money in a relatively short amount of time, attending an event and meeting new people that entertain the idea of exploring other activities that you thought were impossible, getting heartbroken/lovebombed out of the blue, etc.
On the surface and in the moment and moments that come after it, the state of mind is always tilted towards an extreme where I might run with a false realization that this is it!, as in a full stop has arrived, a chapter has ended or begun, depending on how you look at it.
More often that not, such experiences a more like a piece of a puzzle, they can't be taken in isolation and it is a wastage of mental power to dive and explore them intricately.
I like the drawing analogy here.
Unless you're the artist, you usually can't really tell what a drawing is by just looking at the first few lines, have to wait for the image to emerge with more lines drawn. This calls for patience and also letting loose the tendency to "solve" experiences as a way to find something to improve upon or if you're like me with a curious brain, to look for meaning, connection, relevance, etc.
Life itself can be pictured as a giant puzzle that arguably never gets solved in the way our minds expect. I think the approach of trying to solve is a main problem for a generation that was handed search bars and taught to expect answers, it misses the point around living as an unfolding of what you are and becoming, not what you've figured out.
Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.