Ugh. Yes. I've 99 problems and 96 of them are completely made up scenarios invented by my brain!

Yep and I'm extremely detailed. I need to know... every... single... little... thing. I'm sure I've driven some guys a little nuts with that.

I'm overthinking this question right now.

My hobby and trade (rock climbing and construction) demand immediate action without thought in some situations. So part of my head will function that way, even in less pressing matters.
But gimme a good bong hit and a sunny field and I can contemplate one blade of grass for three weeks, blissfully.

Yes. By the time I am awake and out of bed in the morning I am pretty well convinced that when I look out the window I will be seeing mushroom clouds on the horizon in every direction.

Hmmmmm.....

Hmmmmm.....

Hmmmmm.....

Maybe. .

I'm very much the same: vacillate between options, second-guess decisions, slow to take action.

Tendency? My whole life is devoted to overthinking. And then I under think to compensate. Not good.

Oh hell yes.

If I don't like something I tend to pick it apart, if I like it I'm more easy going.

I do it all the time - and act on hidden subtexts that aren't really there as a result.

Oh yeah, been there, done that.

This is not unlike the affect of meth on many people. A hundred projects started, but due to the intensive over-thinking and making changes, nothing ever gets finished.

I wouldn't say "overthink" but maybe think a lot. I read a lot of periodicals and non-fiction. I am involved with numerous groups that are active in environmental/historical areas. This site has especially gotten me going. Don't look at my dining room table. It has become a desk with all kinds of scrap paper covered with notes.

I have been called an ANALyst Nuff said. LOL!

I really think things through, I am a half decent strategist so it is necessary.

I have this issue for sure!

Yes. I fall prey to this often and I think many highly intelligent people suffer this same affliction. I have, in the past, had the tendency to over analyze to the point that it became a negative. Anything, if done to an extreme, is unhealthy, more likely than not.

It was basically the same for me as it was for you. I am still OCD to this day and that is connected to my inability to stop and relax my mind, keep it from racing as it does. Most of my friends are of high intelligence and we All speak of this dilemma. We overanalyze. We cannot help it.

I began to realize I was losing out on So Many Experiences in life because I could not stop analyzing and finding reasons and ways to sabatoge my own peace of mind and of happiness. If i wanted something, I would find a way to discourage myself as easily as i Could encourage myself, but usually the latter was even more difficult in the battle of me against me... my mind won't let go sometimes. It will push and push until I give In to its Stupid illogical logic... it feeds into my own fears and from there, my own fears tell my overanalytical mind exactly How to cockblock myself. In doing so, I lose. Period. Plain and simple.

Instead, once I recognize what I am doing, I stop and think, again... "Why am I doing this? Is it not so easy to simply make a decision and to stick by it? I can take Everything apart to peices and assume a million different things, a million different ways, when the truth is, in reality, the Actual experience of going Through most things we overanalyze is Vastly different than what we Thought it was going to be from the point of view on the other end. It is Much Wiser, Much Easier to just commit to it, to go into it, walk Through it... why Build up the fear? Why take it apart? Some times things just Are and there is No reason to dismantle them. We do it when we overanalyze. We do it when we Must push to keep spinning the rubix cube.

It comes To You in Time. It comes To you and you cannot simply Believe you can think your way around it, analyze it to save yourself time, headache, money, stress, pain, loss, gain... There are tiems you Just Do for the Sake of Doing and you Stop spinning it around and around. Trust me... the Process itself Will Be Different than what we Assume it is from the angle of Analysis.

It can be a crippling poison if you let it. It can prevent you from Joy, From Truths, From Experiences, From Knowledge... From Your Potential Self.

Tis better not to overthinkg.

I have huge dreams and seem to wing it on the regular. I need some of what you got!

I always say, like you, I often over think to my detriment. I'd prefer to over think than to under think even though it often comes with unnecessary anxiety. Paralysis by analysis is pretty spot on

In certain contexts analysis is useful. However, over analyzing every little detail of some future appointment seems to me to an exercise in futility and only occupies the mental space available for it's contemplation.

I often give more thinking to things that aren't really worth a great deal of thought, or that are not really important. Other times, I fail to give enough thought to things that I should. Sometimes I vacillate a lot, and I have a great deal of difficulty in making a decision. One thing I have to remind myself of, that there are times when there's not really any good choice.

I've had a few jobs where this has been a problem for me at times.
I would get some sort of project dropped in my lap and told to figure out a solution and do it quickly.

I'm fairly good at picturing things/designs in my head, but I pick them apart, adding or removing pieces that will or won't work before anything is physically done.
This almost always takes longer than expected, but when I start welding I don't need to stop and change things mid-job.
This way the assembly goes quickly and the results are good.

Absolutely. It's one of my biggest faults. I'm the guy that when presented with a situation and needing to decide a course of action, I try to think about it from every possible perspective, consider all of the possible outcomes, try to predict how every possible action on my part might impact the situation, try to evaluate every possible outcome of every possible action to determine which one is the action most likely to lead to the most positive outcome, and obsess over what I might not be thinking about that I should be thinking about.

Often times, once I finally decide upon a course of action to take, it's too late. Either the situation no longer exists or has changed to the point where the action no longer makes sense. If I haven't completely blown the opportunity to take action, then the whole thing starts over again because the situation isn't the same as it was before.

After many years, I finally got to the point where I will cut myself off and just go for it, but it's not easy to force myself to stop analyzing.

Definitely.