Overthinkers sometimes get a bad rap for wasting energy on scenarios that never happen.
But the joke is on the haters.
Because with all of life’s unpredictabilities, those who are well prepared for any curveballs wind up coming out on top.
Looking to portray them in a positive light, Redditor lawofdox18 asked:
“Overthinkers of Reddit, what unlikely scenario actually came true that you were completely prepared for because you are an overthinker?”
Some overthinkers helped prevent sartorial disasters.
Sew Prepared
“I always carry a small sewing kit whenever I go to a wedding. I have sewed two brides into their dresses so far!” – soufflegirl55
Don’t Mock Pack Rats
“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 didnt 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 dying 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.” – thehogdog
If it weren’t for these angels in disguise, there would have been grave consequences.
The Life Saver
“My boyfriend who has zero history of seizures narrowly escaped dying 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 dead 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.” – unicoroner
Tending To An Injured Elderly Woman
“Was at one of those trampoline parks with my kid when I look over and see several of the workers attending to an elderly lady sitting on the floor. Turns out she’d taken a shot to the forehead somehow and was bleeding profusely.”
“They were trying to help with paper towels. Well I’d taken a free local Stop the Bleed class “just in case” and since have kept supplies in my truck.”
“Asked if they needed some gauze and a bandage, went and got it, and brought it back. I told the guy, ‘Now if one piece of gauze fills up -‘ He interrupted, ‘Take it off and put on a new one.’ I said, ‘No! You put another one overtop that one, but leave the bottom one there.’ He said, ‘Well, you know more than I do. Come over and help.’ We were able to get her patched up.” – nchiker
Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, these overthinkers had the perfect tricks up their sleeves.
A Convenient Tool
“I didn’t actually plan for this, it just worked out. But one day for some reason I put a suction cup in my pocket. I can’t exactly remember why – it was from a shower hook that I think broke (?) and I put it in my pocket hoping to find a replacement or something.”
“Later that day I was standing around with a few friends and one friend was lamenting that his bumper was dented. He showed us and said, ‘I bet I could pop it right out if I had like a suction cup or something.’”
“I wordlessly pulled the suction cup out of my pocket and handed it to him. Everyone definitely thought I was creepy as hell.” – Wishyouamerry
The Best Kid In Class
“I remember one day in school a teacher was complaining someone had tied her blinds so tightly she couldn’t get them to open or close.”
“Me being the weird kid, I ask her if she wanted a screwdriver to get it undone. She looked at me like I was crazy and a little scared as I reached into my wallet and pulled out this tiny screwdriver from those tiny finger bmx/skateboards and handed it over.”
“Everyone thought I was crazy and my teacher laughed in relief when she saw it. Everyone thought i was weird until I told them I used it to tighten the screws on my glasses.”
“They were constantly unscrewing themselves and I was sick of having to go to the opticians every time it happened. Obviously the solution was to carry a tiny screwdriver with me!” – Zanki
Mom’s Supply
“Not me, but my mother.”
“Apparently at a party where my parents and their friends were playing board games, there was a realization that an hourglass was missing from one of the games they planned on playing. My mother proceeded to reach into her purse and pull out an hourglass she just so happened to bring, on the off chance they didn’t have one.”
“HOWEVER, later in the night when some drinks had been had, someone accidentally slammed a drink down, breaking my mother’s hourglass. Without missing a beat, she reached into her purse and pulled out ANOTHER hourglass.”
“She knew the first one, being glass, might get broken so she had a backup ready.” – BustyChicken
Mock them if you will, but you can’t argue with the fact overthinkers have got it covered.
Think about it.
If you were stuck on an island, wouldn’t you want to be with an overthinker?
Just saying.