I am thinking about carrying a knife, lol. I am in so many instances where I can't carry a gun throughout the day that I hardly carry anymore. At least with a knife and some training I may be able to survive a close encounter...as long as they don't have a gun!
That's at least partially humor but I find myself back to carrying my Shield more than my Compact Smith just so I can hide it better. I only carry OWB and though there is not much difference, in my mind it seems like the Compact prints quite a bit more.
Overthinking?
A knife...with training...maybe try a cane or something that has a longer reach and doesn't attract much attention?
Maybe, but only you can determine what is best and most comfortable for you. To me, I'm much more confident handling a double stack compact sized gun, than a smaller, thinner gun, which is why I prefer to carry my P10c rather than something smaller.
Single-stack...double-stack...a lot has to do with user preference.
I have somewhat smaller hands and find that the Glock 36 (single-stack, 6+1, .45 acp) has a great 'feel' to me and I shoot it very accurately!
I CC'd a 5-shot SP101 for the first 10 years of concealed carry...and am very comfortable with a 6+1 with 2 magazine back-up set-up.
Everyone has to go through the process of determining what works best for them...and then obtain skill development, followed by practice, practice, practice!