Sometimes overthinking can be a good thing!

Yeah, it can also be annoying and drive your friends and family members up the wall, but when you get that little victory once in a while because you were prepared, you save the day!

What situation were you prepared for because you’re an over-thinker?

Here’s what folks on AskReddit had to say.

1. Got it covered.

“All the teachers at the Middle School I taught at knew I was a pack rat and one day a kid split his pants and the school counselor came to me and said ‘Mr. Thehogdog, would you happen to have a pair of sweats or gym pants in your truck’. YEP.

So the the kid spent the rest of the day in a pair of nylon pants I had behind my seat. He is lucky because if he didn’t fit he would have spent the rest of the day in a white disposable ‘coverall’ I had in case I had car trouble in nice clothes.

Icing on the cake: It was a student I really liked who was super helpful to other kids and teachers, so it was nice to do something nice for him.

I also carried a ‘Swiss Army’ brand soft side brief case (yard sale find) STUFFED and it had a few of each size of battery.

One day Phil Niekro and 2 Braves players were there for an assembly and Phil’s mic battery was dy**g so I SPRINTED upstairs to my classroom, grabbed a 9 volt from my bag, then basically rolled across the panel and switched out his battery and got back to the PA avoiding getting on TV News cameras.”

2. Thank God!

“When my son was still a baby, we had to take an 11 hour flight. As an over-thinker, I brought at least 25 diapers for him to go through.

He didn’t need that many, but the mom sitting close to us was very grateful when she ran out of diapers not even halfway through the flight and I gave her a few.”

3. Wow.

“I found a nickel-sized lump on my fifteen month old daughter’s temple, freaked out, obsessed over it, researched it exhaustively, and concluded it was a dermoid cyst that had worn through the skull.

I was told by a pediatrician that it was a bone bruise that would fix itself over the course of three to six months, no imaging was needed, and I shouldn’t make an appointment at the children’s hospital because it would resolve on its own. I got an X-ray done anyway and the radiologist confirmed every one of my suspicions, but the pediatrician still said to wait and see because that’s what you do with dermoid cysts and it was definitely not through the skull despite what the radiologist said.

Made an appointment at the hospital anyway, and the surgeon swore up and down that although it was a dermoid cyst as I’d suspected, it would not be through the skull since in all his years of practice it never had been. Well guess what? It WAS through the skull, and it was pressing on the membrane between the skull and the brain, a hair’s breadth from breaking the membrane or pressing on the brain.

A couple more weeks of waiting and my daughter could have had seizures, a brain infection, lasting damage. I overthought it and now she’s a happy, healthy three year old.”

4. Fire.

“This was at 9 years old. We had driven home and seen the beginning wisps of smoke for the California Cedar fire in 2003.

Naturally, I assumed the worst, and packed up all my clothes and spent about an hour making a travel cage for my guinea pigs. I tied their water bottle to the side so they could drink, packed up their food and their favorite furniture just in case.

I then spent the next few hours monitoring the fire on the news and out in the distance from our window, periodically asking my parents if we needed to evacuate.

At some point in the night the fire sped up like crazy and was literally on the hillside across the street. I went in to my parents room and said “the fire is across the street are you sure we shouldn’t evacuate?”

At this point we all went crazy grabbing important documents and supplies and as we were about to lock the doors and drive I realized I forgot my guinea pigs. My parents told me it was too late and I didn’t have time to grab them, but when I cried and explained I had them packed up, I was able to grab them and go.

The house ended up ok thanks to a neighbor putting out embers before they took, but we were gone long enough my pigs wouldn’t have made it.”

5. There you go.

“I was supposed to get married at the end of May last year.

At the beginning of the year, before any of the pandemic stuff happened, I became obsessed with thinking about all the things that could go wrong and how we would lose our money spent on the event.

As a result, I purchased a very high coverage insurance policy for the event. As luck would have it, this type of insurance had no clause that prevented collecting if there was a pandemic. We got all of our money back.”

6. Impressive.

“Getting lost in a foreign country.

The GPS won’t navigate, data stops working.

I memorized the map of the downtown area ahead of time.”

7. Perfect!

“I always carry a small sewing kit whenever I go to a wedding.

I have sewed two brides into their dresses so far!”

8. Creepy.

“Mace.

A person I worked with was a registered s** offender and he had a thing for me. I told him multiple times that he made me feel uncomfortable and to stay away from me. For some reason I had nightmares about this dude, he was 6 and half feet tall and f**king hideous. Anyways, he said he was going to stop at a store that I stopped at all the time after work, and it was obvious he knew my direction when I left.

I pull up to this store and he’s already there, walks up to my car and I just roll down my window and spray this dude, and he dropped a billy club out of his sleeve. Everyone always told me to stop being paranoid and stop thinking he’s going to attack me or r**e me, that “he’s been to jail and learned his lesson”.

F**k that dude. He should’ve never been let out of prison. For reference, I’m also a 6 foot tall dude who is always prepared for the worst.”

9. Terrifying.

“My school went into lockdown because of a potential active shooter.

I’ve thought about that scenario a thousand times in my head so when it actually happened and we went into lockdown I barricaded the doors just how I imagined a thousand times.”

10. Getting easier.

“Being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease after researching it thoroughly and knowing I had it, but everyone in my family telling me I was just being a hypochondriac.

Was prepared for the diagnosis, not so much the life with it, but it’s getting easier.”

11. What a relief.

“I built a first aid kit once in which I tried to imagine every wilderness emergency scenario. I was a wilderness whitewater guide.

A client going into a diabetic episode asked me, “ you wouldn’t happen to have any sugar packs would you?” I replied, “as a matter of fact, I do!”

She was so relieved and thankful that my planning included persons with her affliction.”

12. Lifesaver.

“My boyfriend who has zero history of seizures narrowly escaped dy**g from one because my overthinking led me to break into his house when he didn’t answer the phone.

My overthinking had begun a few nights prior. He mentioned that he but his tongue in his sleep and woke up with a bloody pillow and sore mouth- but he had no memory of it happening.

That for some reason led my overthinking brain to question ‘Wow, did he have a seizure and not realize it?’ He has zero history of seizures, and we had been together multiple years (didn’t live together but spent nights together) and I had never seen a hint of a seizure. But for some reason, this stuck in my mind.

Fast forward two days. We usually don’t hang out in the morning because he likes to sleep in late, but on this day we had an appointment to go see a specific dog at the shelter I was thinking of adopting.

He wouldn’t answer the phone that morning. I called multiple times before I went to his place, but he never picked up. I started getting a bad feeling but quelled the ‘He’s having a seizure’ thought, because that was clearly SO unlikely, meanwhile making an action plan for that very scenario.

I got to his house and he wouldn’t answer, so in a completely NOT ME crazy girlfriend move, I climbed over his fence. Luckily his door was unlocked.

I found him unconscious and unresponsive, lying in his back with the sticky remnants of foam all around his mouth.

I jumped into action- I rolled him on his side to help curb aspiration, put a pillow under his shoulder to keep him in that position, and called the ambulance.

Had I not hopped the fence to get in- had I not driven over when he didn’t pick up the phone- had we not had plans to meet up hours earlier than we usually did- he would have been d**d by lunch. His kidneys were already shutting down by the time he reached the ER.

If he had never mentioned biting his tongue in his sleep, I don’t think I would have been overthinking at all. No crazy worries about seizures would have pushed me to go over and find him.

Turns out to be a weird brain disease that’s bizarrely endemic to New Mexico kind of- cerebral cavernous malformations .

Several days later, after we got home from the hospital, I got a call from a friend who said the dog, against all odds, was still at the shelter- as in the very dog we were supposed to be seeing that day. I had given up hope on getting her, pushed it out of my priorities while he was hospitalized- but they had forgotten to take down my 24 Hour Hold sign on her cage, so no one inquired about her.

She’s now our miracle dog and is the sweetest animal I’ve ever owned. My boyfriend wouldn’t be alive today if we hadn’t made an appointment to meet her.”

13. No sweat.

“I carry some of just about everything, in my purse. We were at a beach, during off season, and a kid wiped out. I had everything needed, to clean, and bandage him up.

I carried that stuff, (renewing when it got old), for almost 20 years before actually needing it.”

14. Get comfortable.

“I keep a change of clothes in my car at all times and a wool blanket in case my car breaks down or I’m stuck in undrivable conditions.

Sure enough, about 11 years ago it snowed juuuust heavily enough that my pavement princess of a car couldn’t drive safely in it and I was too far away from town to turn back, so I pulled over and waited out the snow in comfort (I had snacks and water remaining from the trip I was still on at the time) until the street sweepers came through.”

15. Don’t panic.

“My company was in shambles financially and was laying off (bit before Coronavirus).

I kinda sensed my number will come soon, so I applied for masters degree. I got laid off and 2 weeks later I had my acceptance letter for a masters degree.

Saved me the panic of finding a job in a post corona economy in 2020.”

16. You never know.

“In college I was on my university’s equestrian team. I’d been riding long enough to know that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong at a horse show, especially if you’re not prepared for it.

My car was always full of gear, and I was always poked fun at for it, but I saved so many team mates butts. Your crop broke? I got you. I always carried two. Got horse slobber all over your show coat? I got you. I always carried two extra pairs of show pants and there was at least one show where both of them were needed.

Then there was also the situation where the billets broke ( a strap that helps hold the saddle on) on one of the horse’s saddles and it was either a dressage saddle or mine. We made it work with mine.

Who brings their own saddle to an away horse show? I do because you never know what you’re gonna need.”

17. Fear of not being prepared.

“Growing up, my dad really instilled the fear of not being prepared in my head. If you have ever watched Freaks and Geeks, the dad at the dinner table recounting someone he knew who d**d as a result of their actions was a pretty spot on impression.

It extended beyond “don’t run with scissors” to, “don’t carry things on your lap when you’re in a car or you’ll be cut in half”, “walk opposite of traffic so if someone tries to kidnap you, you can kick their door in and run away”.

I instinctively catalogue items when entering a room based on what would be a good weapon, and have had to familiarize myself with preserving evidence. The last one is what came in handy.

Unfortunately, one of the worst case scenarios befell our family two years ago. My oldest daughter disclosed that she had been m**ested by my then FIL. I went into full auto-pilot here: took my daughter to a safe room, had family pick up my dog and youngest daughter, made sure she didn’t wash her hands. When she had to use the restroom, I asked her not to wipe. We didn’t change her clothes, we didn’t have her brush her teeth.

The DNA evidence they were able to collect off of her put him in prison and will keep him there.

Surprisingly, this has helped my overthinking. We all are getting a lot of therapy now and I’ve started to learn that it’s ok to not be for everything. Sometimes life sucks, and most of the time it’s completely out of our control.”

18. Already readjusted.

“My ex boyfriend of 3 years and I were seemingly totally fine, but he was just not texting back at his usual speed for a few days.

Any normal person would say “oh he’s just busy with work”, but I went straight to he’s clearly going to break up with me. Well, after 4 days of slow texts back, he breaks up with me.

I was completely prepared, had my ice cream in the freezer, chocolate in the fridge, tissues and lavender oil in the bedside drawer and bath bombs at the ready in the bathroom. I was so prepared that I didn’t even really need all of that though, because I had already readjusted to the mentality of having been broken up with.

That was my quickest bounce back from a relationship ever, 2 days and I was fine.”

19. Sticky icky icky.

“I hid a few grams of weed once.

I knew my adhd stoner brain would forget about it and sometimes it can be hard to come by if it’s dry.

My husband called the idea stupid and it wouldn’t come in handy.

Guess who ran out of weed a month later and couldn’t find any more, then suddenly remembered our secret little stash? This guy.

Kept us going until we could find some more and now my husband never gives me c**p when I hide things.”

20. That’s random.

“I slipped on the ice and shattered my femur.

Luckily I stuck my phone in my pocket before I took the garbage out for the explicit reason of “what if I slip on the ice and break my femur?”.”

21. Trust your gut.

“Overthinker here.

Dealing with a very corrupt local police force here in Orange County California, I thought of this far-fetched scenario where the police officers tried to raid my offices with a SWAT team over building code violations, so I installed a DVR system and just waited, I thought it was so far fetched that I never bothered to tell any of my colleagues what I was doing out of fear that they would laugh at me.

3 days after it was installed, 12 tactical units came in and busted down the door, they were laughing the whole time. All caught in glorious high definition video. It made local news even. Of course their claims were baseless and a fairly large civil suit was launched against the city. Trust your gut…”

22. Jeez…

“I saved 2 voicemail messages from my mentally ill father, who was coached by the woman who controlled him and financially abused him for 15 years to tell me never to call him again.

Her voice can be heard telling him what to say and he repeats her words verbatim. He passed away in 2019, but now those messages are the ‘slam dunk’ in the 400 pages of evidence I’ve collected to not only stop her collecting life insurance, but also demand she repay some of the tens of thousands in “unconscionable procurement.”

I’ll be giving the whole pile of evidence to her local police because there is no way my father was her only victim.”

23. Good move.

“I occasionally fear someone is following me when I’m driving. One night I leaned on my horn for someone who cut me off.

When I turned into a neighborhood to drop off my friend I noticed the same car behind me. Instead of stopping at her house to drop her off I drove past and did a circle around the block to see if they’d follow, which they did.

That turned into us being chased by them for about 30 minutes which is another story altogether.

I don’t want to think about what would have happened if I assumed it was another car from that neighborhood and stopped when I got to my friends house.”

24. Pandemic life.

“The pandemic.

I had been watching the news and new there was a virus spreading that was freaking officials out way more than normal. The day they announced a case in my county I made a trip to the store to stock up on the essentials like booze, food, and TP.

The lines were moderate but not at panic levels. A week later they announced the lockdown. Thankfully I had bought enough to last me 2.5 months without needing to leave my place.”

25. Have to be careful.

“Riding a motorcycle.

I always assume every car around me is going to wildly pull out in front of me or swerve into my lane. multiple times these assumptions have saved my life.

I’m a pretty crazy over thinker and a lot of times it’s needless worry.

But I feel like sometimes it prepares me for something that DOES actually happen.”

Have you ever found yourself in a situation like this?

If so, please tell us about it in the comments.

Thanks a lot!