If you were to tell me that you never sit around and wonder about what you would do if a certain something happened, or what you would say if a certain someone came up and talked to you, then I'd have to call bullshit.

Everyone has those deep-seated, compelling feelings and thoughts that marinate in our minds until they become fully immersed in a concoction of what-ifs and how-comes. These speculations and scenarios become sort of like an obsession. Maybe it stems from jealousy, branches off as an obsession, or maybe the root of all these thoughts is nothing more than anxiety. Regardless, you can't say that you're able to shut off your brain altogether to fully stop these thoughts until the thing that for some reason consumes you suddenly doesn't pique your interest anymore.

So it's established – everyone does this, at least on occasion. But when do these evasive thoughts and worries become more than just that?

I've found that the things I ruminate on the most are people and situations. If I read something nasty about a person, place, or thing, and I know that there's no way it could be true, I sit and wonder why anyone could possibly think that. I don't exactly second guess myself per say, but my mind suddenly trails off on a tangent of potential reasons why that could be.

Alternatively, I often sit and wonder why people become obsessed with callous, egotistical hypocrites who merely have a facade of being kind, successful, happy, pious, or whatever. These are purely examples – nothing more – but I find myself drifting off to a different place at work and thinking about how I'd do things differently if I were in their social circle or what I would say to them given the chance. These scenarios might be possible or they might not, but regardless, it irritates me that there's nothing more I can do besides sit around and stew in a vat of my own daydreams.

The problem with that is that most of the time, I can't do things differently because whether I like it or not, my world does not coincide with the world of which I am daydreaming about. More often than not, I cannot confront the person that I disagree with because it would be weird, argumentative, or impossible to do so.

I cannot change the minds of others on a particular subject because it would accomplish nothing. I cannot transport to certain places to make things happen. Not automatically, anyway. People are set in their ways most of the times. I cannot fix the world, yet in my mind, I try to imagine a scenario in which I can.

The problem with THAT is that I forget to look at what's in my own world. Instead of clearing up an issue I have with my boyfriend or telling my sister why I'm mad at her, I sit around and look at other things in life and try to magically show up in that world, one in which I always reign superior because I always know best.

Sounds conceited, but that's because it is. It's my daydream and I can do what I want, dammit. Isn't that a refreshing break away from everyday life?

It's not as if I think this way of my actual life, that I am all-knowing. The problem is that I know I know nothing. Hence why I drift off into these extensive strings of what-ifs and how-comes. How I would do things differently. How I would say things differently.

It's safer in that world than it is in the real one, where I can lose arguments and start fights with my words and actions.

I suppose the lesson I've come to find is that scenarios are fun for a while, but daydreaming isn't something to do extensively or to even truly worry about. They aren't real life, and they aren't going to fix anyting. Focus on what's in front of you for the time being, and let the make believe happen in your spare time. You won't get anything done with a full mind and no action.