Overthinking - better known as thinking about every single thing you do in life down to the last possible situation, outcome, or detail. It's a way of life, and an unwanted one for many.
In all honesty, there isn't much that it's good for. It makes you one of those people that lies awake at night, in the dark, going over everything you did that day, and everything you have to do in the coming future. With that thinking comes anxiety, especially about those important events, because you have to know every single thing that could or could not happen, and what could possibly go wrong to mess you up.
As far as I know, nobody wants to be an over thinker, it is just something that you are. People are always saying, "just don't overthink it," and all I can think is "well if I had the choice I wouldn't, but I don't know how to turn off the thinking switch in my brain just yet". It's like a switch that is constantly stuck in the "on" position, and you have no idea how to turn it off.
It's as if no one really understands the concept. It constantly seems as if we have a choice in the way that we think, as if I had the choice, I would actually choose to overthink every choice that I have to make in a day. However, that is not the case. I am here to tell you that if I had an option, I would make a choice and run with it, no second guessing, no questions, just me and my first thought. Unlike now, where I hang back until I have gone through thinking about every aspect of that decision, and wondering if I have made the right choice, only to change my mind, then most likely, changing it back to my original decision.
Overthinking causes so much doubt, and fear over every day situations or events. For instance, you can't just think about whether a person likes you or not, you have to think about "well what if they don't like you back, what if they are taken what if they are just nice, what if they are secretly gay, or actually think you are weird and just don't know how to get rid of you?" then you start to think about your own feelings, and if you should feel that way, if the feelings are real, and sometimes even if you should, in fact, be feeling that way at all. If only you could think one thing and stick with it, be confident, and just roll with it. Wouldn't that be a novel experience?
Overthinking can even make things such as shopping a challenge. Usually what happens is: you go to the store, pick out stuff you like, pay, then leave. When I go to the store, more often then not, I have to say "I don't know" to what store I want to go to, then pick up things I like, just to put them back down, because I am not sure how much I really want it, then pick it back up later because maybe I do want it, eventually pick it out, pay, then finally leave.
The only time that I have found it to come in relatively handy is when I am studying for a test, because I study every little thing, because you never know what's going to be asked of you, but when it comes to actually taking the test, I have found that overthinking it causes you to miss points or even the entire question in some cases because you were too busy doubting yourself.
In short, I don't think that overthinking is good for anything, other than making you a very skeptical, suspicious person. It makes you think about life in a different way, that's for sure, but whether that be good or not, who knows? One day, maybe, we will figure out how to turn off that constantly stuck "on" switch in our brains, and then we can be one of those people who could make a decision and just run with it.