Still, in modern society with its materialistic values, this constant inquiry and a profound awareness that accompany being a deep thinker can be quite challenging. Our consumerist society is killing deep thinking and is cultivating ignorance, and it makes sense why. Ignorant people who don’t question themselves and the world are the easiest targets for manipulation and mind control.
This is one of the reasons why deep thinking is not ‘in fashion’ in the modern world. Those of us who have this rare ability to look right into the depth of things often end up lonely, unhappy, and unaccomplished. It’s all because being a deep thinker comes with a number of struggles and drawbacks most people are unaware of.
In a world ruled by greed, primitive desires, and material interests, where people’s intellectual, moral and spiritual level is constantly going down, it’s no surprise that deep thinkers often feel like they don’t belong here.
One of the reasons why a deep thinker may struggle with relating to other people is a lack of meaningful communication. With all the ignorance and superficiality today, it’s not easy to find someone to talk about the things that truly matter. This is why deep thinkers often end up alone as they prefer loneliness to forced friendships.
This type of person is unlikely to tolerate shallow relationships and fake friendships. And no need to say that these are incredibly common nowadays. It’s becoming more and more difficult to make friends with genuine and deep people who don’t have hidden motives. Sadly, the consumer mindset has changed much more than just the way we see material objects. It has also altered the way we see each other.
With time, all this may make you feel alien to this society and world. Sometimes, you just can’t understand other people and their actions, which makes you wonder why you are such a misfit and feel like you come from another planet.
Similarly to the feeling of detachment, you don’t resonate with the interests and aspirations that are common to the majority of people and don’t enjoy things everyone loves. Those popular TV shows everyone talks about or usual activities like going shopping with your friends and talking about clothes only irritate you.
You often wonder how it’s possible to waste so much time on the things that don’t really matter. In general, you have little or no interest in the mundane and material side of being.
Whether you follow what’s happening in the world or not, the only thing is clear – you are quite pessimistic about the future of humanity. It’s all because you deeply realize that humankind is constantly moving away from the true values and the things that really matter. All this ignorance and superficiality of modern people often make you think that the human race is doomed.
A deep thinker will often reflect on the world’s problems and will tend to take them to heart. No one will disagree that our current society has lots of issues to solve. From wars and social inequality to disrespect towards Mother Nature and other living beings on the planet.
Deep thinkers get genuinely concerned and disappointed with all this injustice, greed, and violence we witness today. And the worst part is that one person can do very little to change the whole world. Thus, all a deep thinker is left with is worrying about the things they cannot influence.
Deep thinkers are highly self-aware and reflective. However, no matter how good these traits may be, they have one significant drawback. Those prone to deep thinking have a really hard time when it comes to taking real actions to change their life and the world. These dreamers with theoretical minds prefer to live in their own heads, immersed in their thoughts and visions.
For this reason, turning ideas into a reality, and putting plans into practice can be challenging for them. This indecisiveness and a lack of action often cost deep thinkers success and accomplishment.
It may not be a problem, however, as a deep thinker is rarely interested in becoming a success story. At the same time, when you realize that your life needs a change or you could make a real difference in the world, but you fail to act on it, this brings you deep disappointment with yourself.
It makes sense that deep thinking almost always equals overthinking. One of the telltale traits of a deep thinker is the tendency to overanalyze their actions and behavior. They find nonexistent mistakes, failures, and flaws, and blame themselves for those.
The truth is that a deep thinker can often be too hard on themselves. This makes them focus on the negative and worry too much about insignificant things.
Overthinking is another thing that can prevent deep thinkers from believing in themselves and succeeding in life. A person who is too hard on themselves tends to overlook their strengths and talents.
Deep thinking often comes with social incompetence. Social skills are usually an innate quality, even though they can be developed.
Yet, social communication mainly relies on the practical, everyday side of life. And this is something deep thinkers are not really good at as they tend to have highly theoretical minds. This inability to connect with other people easily makes the feeling of detachment even more intense.
At the same time, the tendency to think deep leaves a mark on your perception of other people as well. Being a deep thinker is not only about trying to solve the world’s problems or eternal dilemmas. Many deep thinkers are fascinated with the human psyche and its mysteries. The ability to analyze human nature in depth also affects social situations and day to day interactions with people.
A deep thinker with an analytical mind can easily detect inconsistencies in someone’s behavior which indicate lies, authenticity, and hidden motives. As a result, this ability inevitably leads to disappointment. The more you deal with people and see their true nature, the more alone you feel.
For the most part, deep thinkers are introverts who remain immersed in their thoughts most of the day and don’t open up to other people easily.
For this reason, those who don’t know you well may get the wrong impression that you are full of yourself and are acting snobby, avoiding small talks and group activities.
I like deep thinkers. I don’t like to have normal conversations with people. I love learning about what makes them who they are. Their thoughts. Views. Who is important to them. What is important to them. Let me pick your brain.
-Unknown
Some may think you are a weirdo or an absentminded daydreamer who just sits there and has his/her head in the clouds all day long.
You may have reflected on the questions that most people have never asked themselves and have read more books than anyone around you.
Hours of your life may have passed trying to find answers to meaningful questions and figure out what this existence is all about. You may have remarkable insights and may notice things most people are unaware of. However, solving everyday problems can make you feel completely helpless.
The truth is that deep thinking rarely equals practical thinking. Ask a deep thinker to explain to you the essence of existentialist philosophy for your college paper, and they will. Ask them to help you buy a washing machine for your new home, and they will scratch their head, feeling clueless.
The mundane aspects of being don’t really interest a deep thinker and their practical thinking skills are not that good. So they try to avoid dealing with such issues at any cost.
If you are a deep thinker, you are probably familiar with the feeling of sadness you may have from time to time for no obvious reason. It is a sort of existential depression.
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.
-Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Crime and Punishment”
In these periods, you are just drawn into yourself, analyzing your life, or reflecting on existential issues. Nothing can really get you out of this state unless the flow of your thoughts comes to some conclusion.
Thinking in depth is directly linked with reflecting on existential questions. A person who has never asked themselves about the meaning of life and everything can’t be really considered a deep thinker.
Is there life after death? Who am I? What is my purpose in this world? Questions like these are certainly interesting to think about. At the same time though, they have no answers. So reflecting on these matters automatically means that you will be chasing the elusive truth for a lifetime and will never reach it.
When you have that thoughtful expression on your face, even your close ones may assume that something is wrong with you and start worrying about you, asking questions like “Is everything all right?” or “Are you ok?”
The problem is that it’s not always easy to explain the cause of this mood. It may be something as simple as a book with a sad ending or a thought-provoking documentary you recently watched – literally anything can put you in deep thoughts.
When you are reading a book or are simply immersed in your thoughts, it’s like if you were traveling to an alternate reality. A real struggle is when you have to come back to the “real” world and return to your job, everyday duties, and activities. This return is always accompanied by a feeling of confusion and even frustration.
Remember those mornings when you are having a beautiful dream and it is suddenly interrupted by the sound of the alarm clock? This is what it feels like when you realize it’s time to get out of your head and come back to real life.
Are you a deep thinker who struggles with staying connected to reality and those around you? You may want to check my related articles for some guidance:
Can you relate to any of the above-described points? Share your thoughts with us.
P.S. After numerous requests from our readers, we created a community aimed to bring like-minded deep thinkers around the world together. If you are interested, join our Facebook group“Deep Thinkers in the Modern World”.
P.P.S. If you are a deep thinker who feels alien to modern society, check out my new book The Power of Misfits: How to Find Your Place in a World You Don’t Fit In, which is available on Amazon.
View Comments
Important Question (please provide insights and advice to this dilemma).
How does someone find a healthy balance between deep thinking and practicality so that it doesn't impair their life?
I resonate greatly with many of the ideas mentioned in this post and have personally found it to be extremely debilitating – career, relationships and otherwise. I see everyday items such as laptops, food, clothing, machinery and the internet to name a few and rather than accepting and using them functionally, my mind tangents off trying to understand the micro-level working of each item. I'm more knowledgable than many of my peers when it comes to these items but still lack the confidence and practical ability to benefit from them because I don't "completely" understand them.
Others: see ---> accept ---> practically use (confident and sure)
Me: see ---> confused ---> read and attempt to understand ---> somewhat practically use (hesitant and skeptical)
I believe I fall under the famous paradox "The more you know, the less you understand" which is lowering my confidence.
I'd like to accept that I cannot completely understand everything around me and still be confident and practical.
Rowan, In my humble opinion, you have stated an quinessential "truth" (i.e., if an ultimate truth exists) with respect to knowing more and discovering that we really do not understand very much. "The illusion of knowledge" is a paradox affecting all of us. We assume we have sufficient understanding, but are too lazy, distracted, preoccupied to put our knowledge to the test.
We have forgotten some core principles that wise individuals of old had figured out:
"The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend." - Henri Bergson, French Philosopher and Educator
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." – Aristotle
"No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof." - Henry David Thoreau
As much as I would like to consider myself a "deep thinker," more times than I can remember, my so-called "deep" thoughts turned out to either be wrong or ideas so simple that a 4 yo could understand them. The Law of Parsimony/Occam's Razor and Murphy's Laws keep me humble and eternally in search of that which is "outside of the box."
Resonates... almost eerie
ya its not fun. I find Im both a very deep thinker but i can tolerate the outside world just fine, because i understand how insignificant I am to whom ever reads this. which is a perfect example of how strong a persons ego or self importance is. So its safe to say that what I believe to be the absolute truth means absolutely nothing to a perfect stranger. knowing this I realise, "who am I to question or judge the actions and views of others". Doing this helps to figure out which steps to take next to find your truth. By being accepting and understanding of the unknown actions and decisions of others, is only going to help to expand your mind to find "Your Answer". so ya deep thinking sometimes hinders us from achieving "success", because rather than throw this crazy opportunity of existing away. We take it as the only chance to figure out why we are here. Obtaining anything in life above and beyond the necessities to survive seem pointless. every bit of energy that would be otherwise wasted is rather used to "Wake Up". even if the outcome is far more favourable.to the"successful" life. it seems the only way to becoming a successful person is to "turn off" your mind. Embrace who you are and you will see it as an opportunity to find yourself. Especially if you feel like your looking for something.
Wooow such a nice post. Atleast there is someone out there like me. This post really really gave me relief that I am not crazy at all(atleast relative to me). Each and every thing that is written in the post applies to me. I never expected to come across such a post or even anyone who is aware of all these facts about people like me. I really don't have interest in mundane activities that people like, as written in the post. This post makes me feel that I am not alone. Is there any group for people like us? I wanna talk to them. If there is any group then pls mail me at cnjv1999@gmail.com. I spend hours sitting in a same position thinking thinking and thinking. I tend to notice things that people cannot. I pay a lot of attention to the minutest of things, and derive conclusion from that. When I tell my parents or my friends about what I concluded from what I observed, they call me immature, childish, fool,crazy,etc. But most of the times, what I concluded comes out to be true, but people are too busy to observe that what I told them is actually true.
Thank you very much for this post. Really it was a huge relief from the burden of loneliness. I have very few to no friends.
Deep thinkers don not annoy others. They always give importance to humanistic feelings so they are aware of the fact that love and respect are always reviproctaed. It's right they are late in taking actions but they are never too late.