I have a tendency to some of these types of quirks, as well. I don't know the author's situation, but the reason why I ruminated over other people's thoughts fo

I have a tendency to some of these types of quirks, as well. I don't know the author's situation, but the reason why I ruminated over other people's thoughts for so long was because I was brought up in a household of narcissists and sociopaths. I had to step very carefully depending on what mood the people around me were in, lest I be smacked down (usually verbally, occasionally literally) for saying or doing something to set them off. It becomes exhausting and as you can imagine leads to numerous personal and social problems. They start so young that you never have a chance to realize that it's neurotic behavior. That said, I don't care for the label "baby". Different people have different skills – socially, intellectually, etc. – and not having a particular skill or set of tools doesn't make you a "baby". It makes you ignorant of those things. I think the label of being avoidant was much more precise language.