Are you one of those people who just thinks too much about pointless little things...and pulls things from them that no one else ever would? Can you look at a picture of a kitten, and within a minute or so, have your mind somehow leap from that to wondering why, if it was only a three-hour tour, the Howells took all their money - and have that leap make complete logical sense in your mind? (Kudos to you if you caught those references.)

I am. And while it's useful to me when I write some stories (makes me close my plot holes - also makes me START said stories in the first place), sometimes it's just...odd.

Take, for instance, the other day at work. I was putting up St. Patrick's Day decorations, and looking at a cardboard cutout gold coin with a four-leaf clover on it...and I had to wonder, when the number four has a strong connection to death and other bad things in much of the world, why are four-leaf clovers - a rare mutation of a bit of foliage that usually features three leaves - considered extremely lucky? If it were the rarity alone, you'd think it would be a BAD omen...is it then, the fact that when we see one, we usually cut it down and take its leafy corpse as a trophy, thus the death strikes it and not us?
...and if that's the case, what does it say about rabbits' feet? Are rabbits little furry harbingers of death?

Clearly not my most productive train of thought ever - though it has given me an amusing new mascot character thing, and...well, inspired this thread. XD So I ask you...

Do you overthink things?
Do they often have amusing results? Useful results?
What has been the most memorable overthinking you've done?

Oh yup, that's totally me! I've thought about candy canes and then somehow it ended up with some thought about George W. Bush a couple years ago. I don't know how or why I got there but I did XP

My softball coach would ALWAYS yell at me and my best friend on the team about thinking too much XP We were great players and all but once the ball was in the air he said he could see us thinking about what we had to do rather than doing it XD

I make mountains out of mole holes, what can I say, and I get lost trying to get out of them!

Yes i do the same, sometimes i just wish i didn't have a brain like most of the people i know they just dont seem to think about the little things


P.S whenever i think about how we all breath without realizing it ..well when i think about it i find it hard to breath if you get me ?

I over-think quite a lot. I dislike driving because of it - it can't be too safe being caught up in your surroundings and not focused on the road.

Sometimes I get caught up in Freudian slips, too.

I actually remember this one thought I had when I was a kid when I was eating food and thinking about taste buds, and then wondering if the tongue could actually taste itself :/

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Originally Posted by LittleMissZombie

Yes i do the same, sometimes i just wish i didn't have a brain like most of the people i know they just dont seem to think about the little things


P.S whenever i think about how we all breath without realizing it ..well when i think about it i find it hard to breath if you get me ?

I thought I was the only one who thought that about breathing! It's so strange having that thought. And when I think about blinking, I can't stand it.

I overthink all the time. Usually its about random useless stuff, like expecting the unexpected which is impossible since if you're expecting it, then there is no unexpected. Stuff like that mostly, but the one thing I tend to overthink the most is when Im about to ask a girl out...usually I overthink it to the point where I dont see that she is no longer anywhere to be seen. =/

I usually over-think things all the time, usually they twist to the worst possible out come. I believe I do this because I know too much about etymology and history to take things how they are presented in modern day...plus I am super sensitive about human reactions that I misread what others are doing, so the end of those two results are just even more so terrible. LOL

Luckily I have a great group of friends that know how my brain works, even if they don't fully understand it themselves. Teachers, however, really enjoy papers I write, that is if I can convey them clearly, because how in depth I get into things.

Always. It is something that frustrates my girlfriend immensely. She prefers to live in the moment, while I am always thinking out scenarios, making plans, having plans, having backup plans, and ready to react when things go wrong.

It also is what balances us out. She knows how to have fun without being worried. I know how to be cautious so that we CAN have fun. I have a strong tenacity to worry and pester her about planning an event and trying to make sure that we stay with the plan if at all possible. On the few occasions that something goes terribly wrong, I'm calm, and able to react so that our event continues on as smoothly as before.

I've done that at times. Most of it is philosophical, so I could be thinking about cookies at first, and then next thing you know I'm wondering if it is possible to travel backwards through time, and if it is, is it possible to return home . Sometimes I'll even do that while watching TV, and my mom will get annoyed at me about it 'cause she was trying to watch her show. xD

In fact, that time travel thing happened to me once while I was watching Supernatural... Anna went back in time to kill Sam and the Winchesters followed her, and I started wondering what would happen if your future self were killed in the past... would you theoretically not die because you still "exist" in the past? Would your consciousness transfer over from your future self to your past self? Are your future and past selves two different people, so you're both dead and alive at the same time?

This is the type of mind screw I can get just from watching a TV show.

I am a philosophy major. I think about things a lot, but I wouldn't call it over-thinking.

Also, a pet peeve of mine is to misuse the word "philosophy" or "philosophical". D: I also hate it when people say that they are very philosophical and have never cracked a book or anything on the subject at all. Seriously. It makes me angry, because there is no drive, direction, or point to their thinking. There is no study or refinery to simple thinking these silly little things which have been refuted by philosophers time and time again, and by saying that you are philosophical because you do this makes me angry.

I think everyone over does it.

Catholic guilt makes me over think things. Like I know I'm not pregnant, but seeing Pregnancy items at the store I work at deepens it and makes me think. (Evil things!)

When going on vacation, I think things over. I plan slightly ahead on a place to stay, basic items I'll need. I buy dish shop and cooking stuff months in advance. When I get their I don't want a strict schedule at all. I want to live in the moment.

I don't have an issue if my boyfriend wants to be romantic and plan a date, but I do like the living in the moment after the planned part. If he's too busy with, "We have to here at such a time, it not as enjoyable.

I tend to over-think in many ways.

Mind trips are quite regular with me, and I tend to think about every possibility about things I do.

Result? I use to "lose" a lot of time and I can be really undecided when it comes to pick something out of instinct.
But I have to admit I'm quite happy I'm made this way, I don't think it's wrong.

I think it may be a problem when a person tends to over-think in a self distructive and self-blocking way. For example when toughts are always bad and the thinker ends up sure of being in the middle of a big painful difficult mess without escape... well, that could be bad.

As long as it's a fantasy/mind association/constructive thing I think it doesn't hurt.

I'm not usually to bad, but my boyfriend is. (For an example, this happened once in a 25 minute time span) He was talking about a Dragon Age (video game), connected it to J.R.R. Tolkien, connect that to Eragorn, from was a question of games played in that type of era, Kaiser (the card game), German (language), Hitler, World Wars, old fashioned weaponry (swords, arrows, etc), historic battles, mythology, mythological battles, and then connect it back to Dragon Age.

My boyfriends mind is never still *giggles*

I'd say no, but i've heard evidence on the contrary from my friend. She says i'm terrible for it, fishing things from little minute details, and over analyzing. I think it's just because we're very different people. She's happy to take things as they come, in a fairly lax fashion, whereas i'm not. I like to process what i'm seeing/hearing etc. I personally don't think i'm that bad...I just think...Doesn't everyone do that? I find it hard to conceive that they might not.

I have a tendency to associate all the things I encounter with other things from my memory, but I don't really consider that overthinking.
When I do overthink, however, I always end up depressing myself. :x This one time I was eating a salad that my sister bought for me, and I started wondering about the origins of the salad, and the life of whoever was making the salad. It was such a mediocre salad I couldn't help but imagine the person making the salad to be a little sad. o_o;

i imagine random things in detail it ends up being hilarious

I ALWAYS over think things! Even the littlest things. Then I suddenly think so deep that it actually occupies me for like 10 minutes sometimes. xD It's strange.

I am notorious for overthinking things. I've had friends comment upon it so much that its pretty much fact.

Unfortunately, often when I overthink, it ends up being more destructive than helpful. And not even that terribly bad, just enough that it makes overthinking be a huge drag instead of something fun.

But oh well, not everything can go well.

ALL the time. I never stop with that junk xD

well it deepens on the subject. I can over think if I am not tired and I feel like over thinking I can go wat over.

I do overthink things on occasion, especially when something is bothering me.

i think we all over-think a certain situation from time to time.

i think its merely because we are focused in accomplishing something or just maybe, we are a but neurotic about what may or may not happen.

personally, i do over-think a few things from time to time. especially when its work/school/family related things.

dont worry, its perfectly normal. :D

I usually over thin,k but sometimes I do it on purpose. Is it weird to say that? But it is. I usually do that when my brain is overloaded from the things I wanted to do, I usually get my thoughts and fly it in, in some fantasy things, like going to never land, finding my ideal guy in a romantic way. I do that on purpose to lessen my stress on everything. hehe

Originally Posted by Draciolus

I overthink all the time. Usually its about random useless stuff, like expecting the unexpected which is impossible since if you're expecting it, then there is no unexpected. Stuff like that mostly, but the one thing I tend to overthink the most is when Im about to ask a girl out...usually I overthink it to the point where I dont see that she is no longer anywhere to be seen. =/

<.< i do the exact same thing but i fix that by spending time planing to ask the girl out before i meet her again ( <.< kinda sad now that i think about it) but yes i overthink way too much for instance i once started with thinking about how a certain car would be like to drive and i don´t remember how but i was suddenly thinking wether i would use one blade or two if i was a samurai (^.^i finaly see that i´m not the only one who does that)

I'm guilty of over thinking things. : 3
And although it makes me super paranoid sometimes, it usually serves as a benefit. It prepares me for bad situations, and helps me catch on to things other people don't want me to know about. (;

I don't mind it, but sometimes I wish my mind wouldn't wonder so much.

i dont over think but damn my bf does, it just infuriates me