When Daydreaming Gets In The Way Of Real Life | Invisibilia | NPR
Вставка
- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- As a child, M spent hours daydreaming, crafting storylines based off her favorite cartoons and sci-fi books. This fantasy world was more exciting, more vivid than the real world. But as M got older, her daydreaming habit didn't go away. In this excerpt from Episode 5 of NPR’s program and podcast Invisibilia, they investigate how it feels to live "in-between" two worlds.
• Read or listen to: "Invisibilia: When Daydreaming Gets In The Way Of Real Life" at n.pr/2uAvyVF
------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to NPR on UA-cam: / npr
Follow NPR elsewhere, too:
• Twitter:
• Facebook: / npr
• Instagram: / npr
• Tumblr: / npr
• Snapchat: / npr
ABOUT NPR
NPR connects to audiences on the air, on demand, online, and in person. More than 26 million radio listeners tune in to NPR stations each week and more than 36 million unique visitors access NPR.org each month making NPR one of the most trusted sources of news and insights on life and the arts. NPR is also the leading publisher of podcasts, with 36 original shows and an average of 4 million listeners per week. NPR shares compelling stories, audio and photos with millions of social media users on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, UA-cam and Snapchat; NPR News and NPR One apps, online streaming, podcasts, iTunes radio and connected car dashboards help meet audiences where they are. NPR's live events bring to the stage two-way conversations between NPR hosts and the audience in collaboration with the public radio Member Station community. This robust access to public service journalism makes NPR an indispensable resource in the media landscape.
In my daydreams, I can actually feel the things I don't feel in my real life. The acceptance, love and support. I've been doing this and daydreaming for almost half of my life. I didnt even know that it's an actual disorder.
when i found out it was a disorder, i cried for a few days, not because i had a mental disorder (lmao i already had like 5) but because it made me feel like my home, my way of life was wrong
then again there are advantages to this, so i have a photographic memory, so sometimes i can literally study by daydreaming. for example, if i have a math test, i can literally recall the time my teacher taught us how to factor trinomials or something and just have her re-teach me how to do it
idk if thats just me, i think its kinda cool and really helpful, especially because i tend to start daydreaming when i try to study,
zoning out and daydreaming throught boring classes is also kinda nice too
Yes yes.exactly me to
Yeesss!!
its not a real disorder that can actually be diagnosed because researchers dont know enough about it yet, but it can be a side product to a real disorder like OCD or depression
Same
My daydream is not so extreme but I usually find myself slipping out of my body and thinking about better scenerios to get away from my reality, even though my reality is not so bad but I wish it was better. I’m tired of having to study so much in medicine.
Hadeel Didam Me too! I didn’t know it was a disorder. I recommend a movie called The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
I feel exactly the same
It's like i am trapped in this never ending cycle of stressing over microbiology, physiology and all other things, while my dream world has nothing to do with medicine at all. And I assume that the job i have in my other world is probably the one i want to do irl toox but i am too scared to leave a reliable path
@@blank_line I can feel you, I am a medical school student too and it's like I imagine being in talk shows, being popular, being the most intelligent person in my class and I truly have a feeling that I belong in my daydreams which I don't have in real life!
@@Mayu1505 Yes, same here. It's so frustrating...
Like, i understand that, if i actually do something instead of wasting my time imagining stuff, i will get where i want to, but it is so difficult
And every exam season i just want to escape into my head, since i see how everyone is getting 90+ on their tests and i am barely passing 70. I actually failed one of the exams this semester, so added stress will lead to spending even more time in my head 🙃
@@blank_line I understand that it is difficult to stop dreaming but believe me you need it like a coping mechanism cause I stopped day dreaming because I meditated for 2 years and then I started having all sorts of deep weird feelings of loneliness that I couldn't handle using the tricks that I learned from meditation!
I still day dream in a limited way to escape certain feelings that I have not worked properly with.
Wish you all the best and don't worry u can take care of that subject in your supplementary exam .
I've never realized how many people have this untill now not only reading the comments but just in general...why is such a big topic never spoken about.....and when you tell people about it they can't understand
Yes. My mom told me to get rid of it after I talked with the psychologist. I lost my hope that day.
@@hu_man1 that's terrible I wish there was more research on this
I guess because most of us are ashamed of it. I feel pathetic sometimes because of it esp. maybe when they would ask what's it about.
@@Gemini_mind that's actully extremely true I think it's just sad that we live in such a diverse time yet we still never talk about this kind of stuff
I told my friends and they were like 'oh everyone does that. I drift off while studying at time. To give it a special term is just a way of being pretentious and attention seeking. '
I think maybe its the name. It doesn't sound like a problem but an everyday common thing.
I can’t accept that my daydreams aren’t real, it scares me but I can’t stop my life is all that I want and I know it’s not real but I just can’t accept it.
It’s what I want.
The life I want.
Amelia Rose i felt that so much.
I still feel that way my "other life" is me
I always daydream for hours and then suddenly snap out of it, realising that's not where I can always be and I have to face all this trouble in the real world again.
My daydreams are the only thing that I can look forward to in my life, like: "Right now I have to concentrate on maths, but after that I have a 5 min. break to get out, so keep your focus."
That's the only way I still get nice grades. But at home (living with my dad) he doesn't show me that he's proud or rewards me, so I go into my dream world where I get recognition and got a great job.
Its fucked up tbh, but I wouldn't be able to live this life if I was not let alone with my mind for most of the time...
Nobody reads this why am I doing this lmao
I feel ever single word you’ve said I’m grateful about my life tho but that’s what I want I don’t want it to stop as long as it doesn’t affect my social life
this is so real, like i know it's all dreams but it's so hard to not want them to be real so fuckin desperately
Im trying to explain to my friends that i don’t “design” my characters. They come to me
Same
The way i design my character is really weird. I just look at an object or an animal and that design comes to me.
That’s so true omg I felt that
Lara Lori Hi, Thanks i know this is random but someone replied to my comment on another vid saying that i’m not a mdd. Its a sticky situation because i know i am and I cannot daydream to deal with it cause it makes me feel guilty... Thanks for showing people understand this to this
シナもんBubble Cinnamon only you can say if you are a mdd and it’s pretty easy to detect. Literally your fantasies are a part of yourself it’s just so hard to let all of these people go. I mean even when I want to I just have nothing to replace it with. I literally wonder what « normal » people think about I can’t live my life without my fantasies
*"What world do you want to live in?"*
Not living at all could be good too.
Nihil Ego word
That’s the hardest question they could ask us
Maira Ojeda not exactly for me because my normal life isn’t even interesting enough to focus on. it’s just pain, so i would easily say my other world unfortunately.
my daydream
When you begin to daydream whilst watching a video about daydreaming😂💀
That's Me.🤦♀️
this is not a joke
No but I felt this way too much
@@rafaelbasco1444 some people cope with humor
Lol 😂
I'm glad people are getting their stories out. More and more people are starting to understand what it's like to have this.
Its amazing (:
@@sugarrollz3524 oh god i have STORIES about this lmao
I've been daydreaming since i have memory, once when i was 13 i asked myself "when is this going to stop?" because soon i was becoming a teenager and it felt strange to be a teen and still having daydreams, though it never stopped. Daydreaming gives me a good feeling, makes me feel happy, safe and content when life gets too overwhelming. I'm a very functional and healthy person, i have a good family background, i have good friends, i'm finishing college and i have a great job, i have good habits and all. Daydreaming doesn't stop me from living, i manage to keep a good life. I'm not ready to give up my daydreams and i don't know when will it stop.
Well you have to
I just recently find out it's same kind of disorder, I'm not ready to give up my daydreams neither. Actually, it's my biggest fear, to lose my dreaming
That's actually ok it would only became a problem if daydreaming interfered in your life (as in stop doing activities just to be able to daydream). If you are able to do your work and keep relationships (friends and family) you don't have anything to worry about.
Believe and pray to Jesus Christ, all of you
I'm supposed to start college next year...I'm truly terrified that I'm too addicted to this
What a wonderful topic. I wish this was discussed longer
Full podcast is linked in description
my biggest fear is not having enough time daydreaming 😖
mine too
Same
Yes!
Yes!!!!
Yes I all aways felt that
I started as a child too. On a swing as well! I'd spend hours on that swing just daydreaming away.
Same 😶
Me too. I'd be on the swing for hours until I would get sick from it. And sometimes I would vomit, wait to feel a bit better and then get back on the swing. It's so weird
I remember singing and imagining I was a princess on a quest, or a detective, or a bird. I remember that when I got older a teacher told everyone that at a certain age, imaginaty friends disappear. But they have never left me at all.
Same!
Swing here too!! Something about the backwards/forth motion.
1:32 "all the characters you create are you" that hit me so hard because it's so true.
Same that hit harder more than anything else
I sometimes set time to just daydream whilst talking to myself out loud in response to actual fantasy conversations I have in my daydreams, I even laugh, snicker, make endearing sounds and create entirely new personalities and versions of myself in my head. Then came severe depression and with the thoughts of not wanting to live the next day, my maladaptive dreaming abruptly stopped but I still yearned for it so I forced myself to watch (which during my depression was something I have become disinterested in) shows so I can truly live within these characters with an actual tomorrow and scripted lives of their own as plot progresses
i only do this in private, and it only ever happens when i listen to music or see a movie that really inspires me. i’m a better version of myself-i’m more likable, more pretty, less awkward, more fashion savvy... i’m who i want to be.i can stop, but i don’t want to. not yet.
I’m 22 and still do this
Aah I relate it this..and it hits hard
You pretty much described me. I'm 29 and I've been doing it since I can remember.
Story of my life! Btw I'm 34 and it's really interfering in my normal day to day reality. It's both a curse and gift! I don't wanna live with it, but without it I can't live at all...it's like addiction...
I feel the exact same way like you created a person and a life and if it's taken away its like your life is "over"
I am 37 and I found out what's been happening to me less than 24 hours ago... It's so awkward.
It used to feel as if I was in a room all alone and suddenly there's just a lot of people going through the same stuff...
im scared to thinking about my own world for so long times. actually it was really good for first like when i was little but im really so bored i want to live my life like other people
I'm 34 and I've had maladaptive daydreaming almost my whole life. The best way to balance it that I've found is to designate a certain number of hours every day to daydreaming and then spend the rest of the time focusing on life. If there's something that triggers a daydream, like music, then avoid listening to music until you're in your designated time. My designated time is weekdays, while my husband is at work and my daughter is in daycare.
I also try to use my daydream in tandem with real life, like an augmented reality, so that my characters can be there while I perform day-to-day tasks, but leave more adventurous stuff for later.
When asked what world would you like to live in and she replied "I don't know" man i felt that!
Happening to me too and now it has become worse. In my imagination i can use my All the senses, I can touch, hear, taste. . . i can feel the situation same as in real life. The worst and toughest thing is that you can't make your mind to switch to your present moment because your body and mind is loving that perfect world. As a victim of this disorder i think this happens when you want something to happen so badly but it is impossible to achieve then slowly you start creating that situation by your imagination, and year by year intensity of thoughts and imagination will incresase to such extent that it becomes impossible to be in the present!
sarah A. THE WORST PLACE YOU CAN DAYDREAM IS AT SCHOOL...
西施小狗Ling Ling Omg I did it a few times big mistake!
Dank memesTv omg same when I try to dream Im scared if the teacher talks to me and I don’t respond her
@@pikitypokity6759 Right, It's like nobody truly gets it. I'm ready to either runaway and never look back, Or go into a mental home. That's where i truly belong honestly, Nobody understands me, Get trashed on by everyone, And being called a mistake..
@@certifiedjuiceaddict8352 Know that you are NOT a mistake. You're a blessing and I'm happy that I coexist with you. All of you. You deserve happiness. I think you're awesome just the way you are. 🖤
I don't want to keep doing this but I just can't stop, I don't know what to do
I can understand your feelings... I also have maladaptive daydreaming
N at the same time I am studying
I tried my best to avoid it but it was useless
We’ll get through it guys, we just have to try. Music is my trigger too
For me it became sorta better when I tried making my life more like my daydreams (working on my personality or skills I wanted to have), you could maybe try that?
@@Deeegenerate totally, I already kind have a list of cool and exited things that I want and can do to do every Saturday, this way I get exited through the week days and try my best to focus just on my life and who I am. I didn't have the courage before but rn I don't even care anymore, I just want to be who I want to be as a person and personality. Thank you for the advice, it's great knowing that I'm not alone♥️
@@AmandaSbarros Well just saying you seem like a really kind person. You go for it, best of luck!
Oh my god, I'm 19 and fighting so hard to end this. I can't imagine living with this second world with 50 years old. Jesus she suffered so much :(
How are you doing now I am 15 year old and I want to stop day dreaming
@@user-gl4zc7ty2k Hi! as been a while since I've made this comment but I would say that my best way to face it is by change my life style and making myself more busy.
@@user-gl4zc7ty2k I am 17 and its ruined my life...I want to stop , but don't know how
I've been doing this for as long I remember and is the reason why my grades are not doing well. It's like doing drugs except that its daydreaming.
True 😅😅
Maladaptive daydreaming really is like having addiction. When you’re doing it you feel great better than you ever feel in life but then you don’t realize you’re just making your reality worse. But unlike addiction it feels like there’s no reason to try and stop it when basically my whole source of happiness comes entirely from daydreaming. Why live in a world where I can do nothing when I can live somewhere where I can do anything.
Even if it’s not real.
This is really helpful. MD was how I coped with boredom and feeling inadequate when I was a kid. Now as an adult, it is still a boredom buster. When listening to music I will often imagine stories to go with it. The stories are very involved and sometimes I catch myself mouthing words from the characters. It has been a part of my existence for so long, the thought of not having MD is scary
My daydreaming started when I was really young, i remember acting out a scene with my fingers (like the gesture of two people kissing) while hiding myself under the blanket so no one could see me. Then, it just continued until now. I thought it was just normal and everyone does this but lately it's getting worse, I often do it when I'm in the toilet or before I sleep. I sometimes daydream, and act out these whatever scene I could think and before I knew it 3 hours had already passed. It was all fun until there are times where I couldn't control it that I lose my sleep over it. I'm aware of my maladaptive daydreaming and everytime I daydream then realize it wasn't all real, tht i just act it all out in my head, I get really sad and I'd started thinking I'm going crazy. Sometimes when I daydream and the scene is really sad, I get really absorbed that it actually affect my irl mood, as if that thing really happened when in fact, it didn't and it's all just in my head. It;s getting so unhealthy now but i can't give up daydreaming either ; ;
i spend 24/7 daydreaming. It disturbs my study, sleep, literally in everytime, everywhere
When I was in high school, I had to write a paper on my favorite place. While everyone was writing about exciting places/experiences, I wrote about being on a long car ride with my parents (where I am not the driver). It was the only place I knew I could daydream for hours uninterrupted (because my parents only would talk to each other). My teacher was taken aback (bc who writes a paper about a car ride) and mentioned something. That was the day I knew I had a problem but I didn't know the name until now.
I've been daydreaming about an entire society I created 15 years ago. Actually, it is an entire continent with 4 countries, four different cultures, 4 different ethnicities, languages and customs... Cultural festivals... Several characters...
It's been 15 years in the making... New presidents, new geopolitical challenges looming day in, day out...
I finally know what's been happening to me.
It has a name now.
I have a messed up relationship with my family. It looks normal to me after so many years but I clearly know that it is not. I'm not able to approach my crushes (past ones in). I freak out after talking so I avoided them. Though I created many boyfriends in my head. I gave them code names. I have enemies, friends and a perfect family for me. I really love feeling like everyone is spinning around my world. I hate reality so, so much that it lead me to have conversations with people in my dreams instead of talking to them directly. I fear of getting rejected.
That's exactly what is happening with me and i recently realized that i have lost a lot of my friends due to this habit
Same
Jeez this is so me
Is this a preview for an episode? Bc it doesn’t feel complete or explored enough. Animation is fantastic btw.
The full podcast is linked in the description
She would be a great author
Not necessarily, maybe the stuff she comes up with is too niche, like having her as almost the entire niche.
You would think so but no
I think the issue is not being able to focus enough to write or do anything bc she daydreams too much
I just imagined about a girl with maladaptive daydream and her father was an author and since she was a child she would always talk by herself and then her father came and asked her "what are you doing" and she said "I was thinking" and her father said "tell me what your thinking" and she said all the things she thought in her head, all of her characters and all of the scenarios she made up because of that her father was inspired by her so he made books about stories she made upped and because of those made up stories her father became one of the most known author's in the world and everyday her father would listen her and write down everything she said and it happened endlessly then one day she came home with tears on her eyes and his father walked up to her and comforted her ( sorry I got bored I don't want to continue the story anymore lol)
@@mltvk8769 whos that author?
I too was a maladaptive daydreamer. I used to be so into daydreaming that I lost focus of present. There was a point where I couldn't even communicate with people properly. I used to be so awkward. But now I've realised the importance of being present. Of enjoying everything happening now rather than fantasizing stuffs. Those are pure illusions we create to make ourselves happy. Now I daydream a lot less all because I know how to enjoy the moment.
Do you have anymore detailed advice on how you stopped?? I’m 20 and started this to mentally escape my abusive home. I want to stop it completely and forget
I've had this since I was a kid and it developed further during high school. Even had a relationship with one of my "characters"... It's good to see that maladaptive Daydreaming is starting to be recognized by experts.
Do you ever escape to MHA?
I do. A lot. As a hero, villain, bystander. Sometimes my friend is there. Sometimes my cousin. Epic fight scenes, emotional scenes....
Music.
Music became a trigger route to take. I can daydream without music, but music increases my submission. Sometimes, it depends on the music I'm listening to. Other times, I make a whole life and world in my head instead of doing my homework. I then get so inspired to write a book and I then get so lost, you know?
Same
I absolutely lose myself in these day dreams, they’re so much fun.
I am 26 years old, I found out just a few days ago that there is this term for what I was doing all my life and thought it to be normal and thought this is what everybody's doing in their free time. I just realized how much I lived out my desires and dreams in my fantasy rather than in real life.
I’m thirteen and I’m trying so hard to keep my self distracted from madalaptive daydreaming, I often madalaptive daydream about terrifying things and I wish it could just go away it’s been 2 years since I’ve started doing it 😞
My maladaptive daydreaming has gotten to the point where I don’t even know if I can finish school. Right now, I’m trying to cram all my work that it is due in a week. But each time I start doing my school work, I just wanna daydream away. My 15 minute breaks, turn into hours. The hard part is, I don’t wanna let that world go, since it feels so nice to be in another world. I know it is destroying my present reality, not only just school, but also my relationships and friendships. I really wish there was more treatment for this
Update: I passed :D
I have md i always talking to myself
And i have imagine myself in music videos and movies and it's so addictive
"Well I'm not the only one."
1:35 I cried. Thanks for giving this topic a platform. The animations are beautiful.
I guess when I daydream I dont really lose out on life when I daydream , I mostly do it when Im alone , listen to music at night and then create a story to go with the music , or something like that
I use music as well.... but I’m always alone so I always miss out
Bro plz stop this... 😅 after some time it will become ur addiction.. 😅
@@yuktiyukti02 with balance and discipline its kinda okay
@@samihakhondoker2456 But still, yeh cheez addiction bante der nahi lgti hai nd isse time waste hi hota hai or kuch nahii... So, apne faltu m karre hi kyu! Jab baad m pachtaana pde
I started to maladaptive daydreaming when i was 8 and 15 now and I feel like my maladaptive daydream is already fading. I dont want it to end cuz it's the only thing that makes me happy and special and loved i cant live without it.
I feel like Maladaptive Daydreaming is such a big part of my core being that if it was to disappear on me, I don't think I'd survive even a week.
for me it is a way to get the validation/appreciation that I do not get in my real life. I get barely get a study seesion in, that is how much it is addictive. I found that without apps like tiktok, or not listening to music at all, I am able to get things done, which really builds up my confidence and self esteem.
The one thing I hate when I tell people I have MD is that they immediately say “oh I have that to” . Ok just because you you mind occasionally wonders off doesn’t mean you have it to, MD it’s not some quirky personality trait
Some months ago, I finally understood what was wrong with me. I had maladaptive daydreaming. To me, it was a normal part of my life a gift, but then someone told me that I was dissociating and then hell broke loose. Suddenly, my characters where not good or useful but the result of an illness adiscapacity, and this realization broke me in pieces. I had to find a way to cure myself. So I started a journey to analyze and understand what where the dreams and characters about and what they were doing for me. They were a coping mechanism not an illness. They help me during the hardest moments of my life, but they were not enough anymore. I dreamed of great adventures, epic battles and friendships. I dreamed of everlasting love and above all I dreamed I was important and useful. I realized that my life was boring, lacked opurpose and was lonely. So when I saw what daydreams really are I was freed, and on my real life fully. However, this was not easy, I was confronted by an profound sadness and emptiness. I cried my characters like they were real. I cried like when you lose someone dear to you. One by one they started to die and I was so lonely but the pain started little by little to disintegrate. Today, I am still lonely and sometimes I daydream but is not longer a need but the remnants of something that is not longer with me but a memory of something long gone.
.
everything makes sense now! i'm relieved I've known my condition but horrified about the future! I don't want to be older and still have these compulsive daydreamings, I also have OCD
In my daydreams my character (me) has a lover an it's literally the only time I've ever felt real butterflies an I feel loved there.
Swinging! The movement was part of the pleasure. I started daydreaming when I was 3 or 4. I loved when the lights went off at night. That’s when the show would begin. I realized much later that for various reasons, I would never be able to show this side of myself. I was always warned not to show off or call attention to myself because my mother would be embarrassed. So, I knew I had to keep it in my head where it would be safe.
I daydream constantly, time seems not to pass if I don’t. All day at work then when I’m at home. I’ll be the couch watching tv and I’ll be in dreamland. Anything and everything gets absorbed into my imagination then plays on repeat. In order to sleep I have to mentally and physically tired, otherwise I’ll act out my daydreams and continue them through the night. My dreams are vivid enough most of the time that they turn into daydreams. I prefer my dream world.
The mind is a really interesting thing
Lol thats me. 👍
Great topic! I have been dealing with this for years now. Very glad to see it being well discussed!
this comment section makes me feel so seen and understood
Get help in any way, it is not too late, I m only 21 yo and I did my best to stop this illness. I used to skip school, family gatherings and hanging with friends just to daydream,and oh dear many universes were created. Real life sucks because it is chaotic and random as hell, and all I needed was an emotional impulse to start the daydreaming. I wouldn't say you will abandon daydreaming but it will decrease dramatically to the point where you'd consider improving your own life. Can you imagine the amout of success you'd get if you've put the same effort of creating illusion in your real life ? Just think about it, don't let the rewarding feeling blind you, because there are way better things in real life than it.
Thank you! I’m 20 and want out of this
Daydreaming has given me a false sense of productivity and success. The journey to relearning myself is so liberating!
Been a maladaptive daydreamer since childhood. But I never considered it a problem or even thought of wanting to stop it until I had to train for a job and couldn't concentrate a bit. I still don't want to stop but it will drag me to bottom of my life if I don't overcome it soon.
My daydreaming wasn’t that bad before. Or at least i remeber it not being that bad. I was extremely stressed in new school and it actually helped me to stay in reality, because sudenly We were learning so many interesting things i could use in the stories… it helped me love learning…
but than COVID and lockdown came. And everything got worse. Before i was sometimes anxious but mostly cos of my hypochondria… after the lockdown i just feel empty and my daydreams are almost nonstop… i have problems with staying in reality… im trying to fight with it but its really hard.
But i have a friend who is maladaptive daydreamer as well. We even go to same class and live near eachother. She told me she had nonstop daydreaming in her 9th grade and how bad it was but she somehow got out of it. It give me hope i will too.
The saddest and most frustrating part of being a Maladaptive daydreamer is that your torn in both choices:
whether
1. *you're gonna throw this illness way*
2. or *you're gonna keep this because you can't give up daydreaming, your character/s and the feelings you received from it*
I have ALWAYS thought that people always daydreaming all the time was normal and everyone did it. Until i realized through situations, once when me and my friend were talking about one of our favorite cartoons and i mentioned that i always imagine myself in them and interacting with them, saying this and waiting for the same thought, but all she did was an unconvinced sound in which i stopped talking about it. I always thought that these type of things were because i got into MANYYY fandoms and cartoons and i thought it's also because i have a big imagination, but it's following me everywhere, i KNEW there was something wrong with me and reallyyy wanted to know what is it because i knew that isn't normal. I can't concentrate in my studies, i can't concentrate at what's somebody's saying, i can't stop moving around the house walking and running, daydreaming about stories and realities i made for myself, i even try to act like i went to the kitchen to drink water and not to worry my parents when in reality it's because it makes me more concentrating in my daydreams.
It's so good to know that I am not the only one. I turned 25 today and I have been daydreaming since 2nd grade (as far as I can remember)....that's 2002. I remember back during the school days, I was a good and bright student.....I was good at academics and sports and everything. But after School.......all I did was 'Daydreaming'..... fantasizing about things that I want to be (Physical attributes, Knowledge, Reading, photography, DIY, etc, etc)...but never ever did anything in reality. One good thing about Daydreamers is that we know the difference between imagination and reality.......we know the solution to every problem related to our mind....our brains.......but we just don't know how to channel out the talent of daydreaming into something creative that could nurture our potential in reality.......at least I don't. There is 'n' number of videos on the internet on how to be successful, creative, confident, happy.....blah, blah, blah, blah.....and they are all good.....but it won't help a man until and unless it comes from the inside of a man and WE DAYDREAMERS UNDERSTAND IT VERY WELL. I'm sure most of us have watched such inspirational videos but got nothing in return......because the answer is within us and not the outside.....but in today's world where negativity and tik-tok are too much......its difficult to understand ourselves. Daydreamers are extremely creative.......I have experienced it myself.......when I daydream......my thinking, vision, and creativity are on another level......but I can't explain the same to people around me. Inside my mind/brain.......I am the true me (remember, I am not thinking of any hypothetical imagination.........mostly I think/dream of myself as an alpha male who has 'Knowledge', 'resources to flourish' and develop further.) I always daydream of myself as a 'man on the path of "Productive Development" and Progress'. I want the "Knowledge".......I want "Resources" to achieve mental satisfaction which is a big deal for a daydreamer. There are Pros and Cons to everything and the same goes for Daydreaming. With time and age, my default habit of daydreaming has taught me about myself (It's easy to say but difficult to understand and achieve)............it has taught me that I want to have knowledge which is the ultimate answer to every solution a man can have for any problem........."Knowledge". This KNOWLEDGE will help me build my mental and physical health which is yet again another ultimate answer to life......a healthy mind and a healthy body.
This was honestly great to read! Mine started as a “mental escape” from my advice household that I’m STILL living in at 20 years old. I want to get rid of the day dreams or decrease them tremendously because I don’t want to run from reality anymore. I want to change it and not just in my head. The answers are within and I have to be ready to let it all go...
I heavily dissociate now, but I used to do this in middle school. I’d go from class to class imagining and interacting with my own self created worlds in my head. I’d also experience like augmented reality. I would imagine the floor lowering in front of me and entering these caves that I’d play like a survival game in there. All of this just came back to me. I’m surprised I still have memories of my childhood
I daydream a lot it's what keeps me going
Same here.
I don't create characters my head but I do have this . I imagine what If the school exploded , what If FBI come to take me etc . I do It when I am at school or when I hear music . I can make It stop but is hard .
Bificalera1 you don’t want to stop because fantasy is better than reality
Bumble Brea YES! that’s so true! 💓🌈💕💘🌼🦋🌻✨
@Bumble Brea PREACH
Hope you stop doing this definitively cause it could be kind of impossible after
That is more paranoia thoughts, mal adaotive day dreaming is in your control its a pleasant and nostalgic type experience. Also big criteria is you have to have a constant repetitive movement as you day dream the story out.
That hit me right in my chest. I think, just think, I may have some sort of maladaptive daydream behavior. I wouldn't call it a disorder because I honestly don't believe it made any harm in my life. I'm able to concentrate when I need, I finished school (didn't go to university yet), I got one or two real friends and general friends I hang out with. I've never had a boyfriend but I kind of went through some hard friendship zone and got really sad... I mean, maybe some things were clouded by my unreal expectations but overall I think I'm a functional person.
The thing is... I do love the feeling of living in two worlds. I have dreams of becoming a writer and I love carrying characters around and feeling them from time to time. It makes me feel better and not only when my life sucks. Having this is one of the things that make me myself. But watching this made me realize I have to watch my time and balance too. Too much of something is always harmful and I'm fully aware this is the world I live in. I just... don't think I could live as happy if I didn't have the other world.
For me the greatest trigger has been music.I start listening to music for literally hours without actually listening to it and keep pacing around the house .And during that time I unconsciously create characters and mix fantasy stories,sports especially football or soccer and I keep walking throughout my house.
And if someone interrupts me i get nasty and feel angry.Then after 1 or 2 hours i come out of it and I feel completely exhausted .Then i feel like i have wasted lot of time .I have become so addicted to pacing and walking around the house listening to music without actually listening to it, that it feels like a loop.
Any suggestions on how to overcome this?
I just find out about this today before that I though I was just going crazy.
My biggest trigger is music as well I always have to bring earphones with me everywhere I went and whenever my hear phone use to break It felt like my life was over .I have spelt so much money one earphones it is unbelievable
when I was younger use to paced so much it use to wake my dad up .
beautifully animated, really hit me
WOW the animation was BEAUTIFUL. The meaning conveyed through it was incredible.
I can't stop daydreaming.. I am nothing without it.. The first time I realized that all of my thoughts and adventours are just dreams I really wanted to die.. It hurts knowing that the person and life's I created aren't real
im so late but SAMEE i just realised that when i dont daydream or act out my daydreams i feel nothing i am extremely bored even when i try to find hobbies or make friends. When i dont daydream i feel miserable and so depressed like nothing matters. its like a coping mechanism and i wish it was something that i could just let go when im ready. but im not ready at all, im scared i'll never be
I’ve done this for a long time. I thought I was crazy.... I’m so relieved to see there is something like this out there.
I just found the video and all these years i thought i was crazy or smt, i literally started crying because now i know it's actually a thing and I'm noy just being a 5 y/o with imagined friends..
dude,the fact that i always do MD bcs i had no enough friends to talk with,i mean i have friends,but i can't talk about my hobbies,my favorite movies,my thoughts on things,my dream job with them,bcs i know they wouldnt understand it,i started daydreaming when i was 9 maybe,but it comes more intense when i was 13 years old until now,i feel so exhausted,but i feel so lonely,and my scenario friends are the only loving friends that i have.dude,this is ironic,i know that,but this pandemic time,and my introvertness...
Am I the only one who also talk, laugh, cry and move when I daydream?
No
escape from reality.
For me it started very young at the age of 5 back then I would just day dream when I got bored I would imagine that I was apart of a group of characters from shows I used to watch and as I got older it never went away im 15 now and still do this but now its every single day all day I can't stop and when that feeling of knowing that they aren't real comes to mind I just cry and cry wishing that it was and to this day I dont know how to stop I know my day dreams aren't real but they feel real but deep down I know there not.
When i started daydreaming i tought it was something that everybody did, but now i know that is not like that and i'm afraid to lose or forget the characters and fantasies that i have created i just can't accept that they're not real, that they're just me
No matter what I do a part of my mind is always daydreaming. Wether it be conversations, work, school... it always happens. It’s like a bee and some kid in a classroom. A bee is buzzing around your head, you can hear it, understand it’s a bee and where the bee is going, but you try to focus on the class and the bee. Your attention switches between the bee and the work. Eventually, the bee stings you, leaving you with no choice but to focus on the bee and it’s sting. It’s sting eventually goes away. Relieved, you go back focusing on your class, only to realize that class has just ended. Everyday you return to the class room, everyday a bee is there again with a slightly louder buzz. You can’t swat the bee away or tell someone, if you tell them they would tell you that you’re crazy. Everyone knows bees come and go, but this isn’t the case for you. The bee begins to follow you home wherever you go. You grow used to the bee’s company eventually and can’t imagine a life without it buzzing next to you. You realize that this bee is your now main focus in life. People inform you on ways to get rid of the bee that’s obviously making your life MUCH harder, however you refuse to listen because you are used to the bee. After months, you finally realize how loud the bee is getting, making it harder and harder to hear the real world. You decide to sit and wait and acknowledge your fate. One day, that bee’s buzzing will make you one day not be able to listen to the real world and are just stuck with the bee’s harmful yet addicting company.
Over the years, my character evolved with me. They make me feel more comfortable in my mind, my body, and sometimes with just where I am in life. They are the characters who took on my sadness, anger, murder, hate, and the fear. They do the things I can’t achieve in real life. They walk the journey I couldn’t make in my daily life. They have the stuff I most desire. And they have the strength to fight and scream for what I want. I can give them enemies, friends, families, and skills.
She is correct. In my daydream, I am in control and even when I am not - I have more advantage to overturn the tide than not. My main character has my weakness but has the strength I couldn’t have. And I love her.
I don’t know what I would do without my daydream. They help me cope. I tried to stop them when I turn 18, then I tried to end it again after I finish college. Now, my life is so depressing that I am constantly in my mind. I am so anxious and paranoia I am in my mind constantly.
I do this too, and have done since I was small. Its absolutely a coping mechanism. And it is remarkable how common it is.
My god, I never thought I'd find someone else who had the same problem as me.
I've never talked about this with anyone because I just assumed everyone either naturally outgrew their excessive daydreaming, or never did it in the first place. I'm older now and still feel so much shame over the fact that I still find myself completely immersed in my mental fantasizing nearly 24 hours of the day. I can still function and get work done (if I force myself not to get distracted), but my constant going in and out of reality has developed into a full-blown paranoia that someone's going to catch me daydreaming and judge me for it: calling me a "psychopath" or "social-outcast", or even just "underdeveloped". This paranoia is almost as consuming as the daydreaming itself...
That's why I'm so grateful that I found this term: maladaptive daydreaming because now I have a name to give my psychologist that may lead me to the help I need in order to overcome this, and maybe (just maybe) feel socially normal *for once* and live my own life *as my own self*, not some fictional character I created as a substitute.
So glad to know I'm not the only one daydreaming. 😞 and I do hope that one day, we will all heal from within.
To see this disorder represented in mainstream news is sooo needed. Seeing all of the comments saying that people struggle with this is a relief to me. I don't wanna struggle with this but at least I know I'm not alone anymore
Been like this till now. I dont know how to stop this 'cause it is so addicting.
When I was a child I wanted to write a book with my daydremings, I didn't even know it had a name. I always thought I was only a story I created in my mind, but I lived this story everyday. My daydreamings have changed a lot along the years, they are copletely different now.
Recently I watched Alita: Battle Angel and as I was leaving the movie theater I had strong feelings of disappointment by how boring real life is. 😔
Yes I've seen that movie 5 times 💀💀💀
I personally have so many storylines and i left behind some of the characters as i grow out circumcitances that created them in my real life. (Like highschool)
Literally same like I cant count the amount of stories and fantasies I've had they change as I get older
I am also a maladaptive daydreamer this condition abstracts your entire life
Im MDD too...i cant to stop it...its make me feel sad and alone if i get out from it
I know what you mean. I love being in that world than real life….
I'm not even part of my daydreams, but I have this main para, my favorite and first para, who I play as and who is the main character. Her name is Araizia Arnachea Monea and she's everything I wished to be. She has very long, very light brown hair, blue eyes, and she's really pretty, not too mention confident. I wish I could be like that.
invisibilia is so underrated >:o
Hello, I am someone who has this disorder. Is crazy how this disorder is not in the DSM. I would love this disorder to be in the DSM.
I am relieved that I am not the only one.
I’ve finally found the name of this! I’ve always done this since I was 8 or 9. It’s comforting but I don’t want to give it up, my friend teases me about always being on my phone (because I talk about stuff on the internet a lot) but really most of the time I’m in my mind.
daydreaming helps me a lot to overcome monotony and lack of worthwhile company in real life, sometimes I dream different things depending on what I need, if I'm alone and I need affection I comfort myself on my own, if I'm bored I make a funny situation in my head. I have all my expectations of a good life in the plot of one of my stories, my characters comfort me a lot with their little adventures...whatever from the symptoms I've seen, I still don't suffer from maladaptive daydreaming, but sometimes I think that would be the best, I don't think I'll move on.
My world building is super complex and it's been with me forever, i'm glad I don't suffer from it in negative ways there is hope guys
There should be more videos like this or more research on this...how this happens or how this is created in your head
..I have this since I can remember...however I do not want to stop this...this helps me to cope with anxiety and life..even tho it stops me to live life...how ironic
daydreaming has become a part of my life now
I'm still 17. Used to be I thought this was just some odd habit and it'll just grow away in nature's time. But after discovering it had a name, and seeing how people even with children already are still experiencing this, I feel afraid for the future ahead of me. I seriously hope MaDD gets more attention than it has now because there are people who really need help from this.
Btw guys I strongly recommend you to look more deeply into ocd, depersonalization/derealization and dissociative disorder...
Or look at it from a different point of view 'we can experience parallel universes' - read on to quantum physics or biocentrism ... Or even spiritual point of view - we know the 'truth' - concrete reality itself doesn't really exist aka welcome to matrix! ...
Oh snap i see myself in this so much! It began as a coping mechanism for all the bad things that were happening around me when I was a child, using cartoons as bases for me to build on, but gradually grew up to be so much more, and now I have all these detailed stories and characters that I cant give up.
All of the time I can't finish one task without daydreaming I never really noticed this until it got really bad. But I don't know how to stop and no one understands can someone help me?
I‘m at a point where countless things trigger me. Some days, I’m just so frustrated with myself and don’t want it anymore, because it only brings me pain (because my own life seems worthless next to it and because it is not real). When the thought that it is not real comes into my head while I’m doing it, it feels so bad, like a sinking feeling, like drowning, but also like something is being cut out of me.
And some days I tell myself it’s not bad if I do it. It does no harm. I deserve it. It makes me feel like an addict (and maybe I am, who knows).
And more rarely than the first two is another reaction. It’s being desperate to have it. The thought of needing it. Almost crying and pleading to myself to do it. Because I need it. I’m nothing without it.
I feel like I’m making progress in doing it less. I try to avoid triggers, but that is near impossible when my head turns everything into a trigger.
I‘ve been doing this for over 20 years. And I‘ve never spoken to anyone about it. Most people wouldn’t understand. I’m happy to at least know there are other people that do this too. It gives me hope to be able to quit it. No one will probably read this, but just writing it gives me a big relief.
@GwenyMalfoy. You can do it, i'm like you too. I'am 22 years old. I was 11 when I started in this things.
@@princessnano831 thank you 🙏 it means a lot
May God help us🌹