Why Taylor Swift and Einstein have more in common than you think
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Social media is a strange place. Last week, someone told me to stop my “existential nonsense.” Meaning to think less. It cracked me up. When did thinking become a negative? If we thought more, the world might be in better shape.
That said, this comment about not thinking got me thinking. Can thinking about something break it? Does shining a light on something risk overexposure? Or, is thinking what separates us from monkeys?
Sure, we can overthink things. Nobody ever benefited from taking three hours to choose a pizza topping. We can overanalyze a text or assume everyone hates us when they’re simply indifferent. These forms of mental spinning are not helpful. They are wasted hours in a day that add up to days in a lifetime.
But there’s a difference between excessive analysis and necessary contemplation. Some stuff needs careful consideration: the meaning of life, whether or not to have children, and what color to paint your kitchen.
Or, to briefly align with my Internet friend, maybe all existentialism is a waste of time. While you’re busy thinking about life, you might miss living it. If a woman thought long enough about pushing out a baby, she might choose not to. And nobody died because they picked the wrong color palette. It’s the love and memories within a home that matter.
So when does thinking become unhelpful?
I’ve made some of my best decisions without thinking. I accepted Shane’s marriage proposal in a heartbeat (he’ll tell you longer), I bought my two dogs on a boozy whim, and I signed up to a journalism course without a career plan. If I’d thought too much, I might have considered that 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, pets are expensive, and creative careers are notoriously unstable. These unplanned, bone-sure choices shaped my best life.
That’s great, but we cannot gloss over the fact that some of the most profound achievements, scientific discoveries, sonnets, songs and speeches were born of sustained thinking.
Newton didn’t just notice gravity. He spent years developing the mathematical framework that explained it.
Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech wasn’t off the cuff. It was crafted from years of thought about social justice and a deep understanding of human nature.
And Taylor Swift telling you to “Shake it Off” might sound simple, but it gets stuck in your head for a reason.
There’s no better example of the “to think or not think” tension than religion. Faith by definition demands belief beyond reason, a trust in something that cannot be proven. The moment you try to prove God exists, you’ve missed the point.
But some of the smartest people have spent their lives studying religion. Scientists can’t stop asking where everything came from, and even modern physics keeps running into questions about reality. I don’t care if religion is “right” or “wrong.” This question is about what religion’s paradox reveals: Some truths collapse under analysis, while others can only be discovered through it.
What if different truths need different attention? What if some things — like faith, love or inspiration — need to be felt first and understood later, while others — justice, discovery or creation — need to be thought into existence?
A parent doesn’t analyze their love for their child, and a sunset doesn’t justify its beauty. A dog’s loyalty doesn’t need explanation. Some things are diminished by dissection. But musicians learn theory so they can forget it, and writers learn rules so they can break them. Chefs master recipes so they can improvise.
Analysis used well doesn’t kill brilliance; it creates space for brilliance to happen.
Perhaps that’s the answer to my “stop the existential nonsense” critic. Wisdom isn’t choosing between thinking and feeling, but knowing which suits the moment. Next time you face a decision or creative challenge, pause. Ask yourself: What kind of knowing does this moment need?
Sometimes courage means thinking deeply when everyone else is reacting on impulse. Other times, it means trusting yourself when logic argues otherwise. Great things happen when head and heart can pick their moments.
Here’s the thing about existential nonsense: It matters. If you choose to float through life without examining it, then good luck to you. But no great creation, discovery or movement came without thought.
The question isn’t whether or not to question. It’s about understanding that some truths are found through thinking, while others are lost to it.
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