Do you daydream obsessively? | ADHD Information
You know, Piglet is to Pig as figlet is to figment. So, if we're daydreaming, and daydreams are just figments of the imagination, ADD one's attention deficit, then their daydreams are shorter, therefore end up as figlets of one's imagination, rather than the whole...That wasn't obsessive, was it?
Yes. But I won't hold it against you.
Yes, I do also.
Well.......glad to know I'm not alone. LOL!!!!! It's weird, I'll get these little daydreams in my head, and they will play over and over in my mind. They're always things I wish could happen or things I wish had happened. They are such a part of who I am I can't imagine life without these various obsessive thoughts. LOL!!! Anyway, thanks for your replies.
In a word...yes. Your daydreams sound exactly like mine do. Although they are part of who I am too, I often wish I could control them. Often they interfere with my life ...
Annia, I think they interfere with mine, too, in the sense that my mind will just wander when I should be doing something else. I become so compeltely fixated on them (is that the right word? anyway......). I have noticed that there are certain times in the month (I won't go into TMI) where the daydreams are FAR more frequent and can, at times, just take over my entire train of thought. I do wish, in that respect, that I had more control over them. Still......as long as they remain pleasant......Oh yes. It tends to get worse when there is some guy I'm liking....or something good might possibly happen. I can not get it out of my head.Thanks. That's b/c you're obsessive, right? Look at all those posts... 878... 879... 890...
Hey, but my average is higher 13.42 vs. 10.33...
Does anyone have what you might consider obsessive style daydreaming about specific scenerios (things that haven't actually happened....just like little plays going on in your head)? I've dealt with this since I was a child, and I'm almost 40 now. Just curious. It's nothing that bothers me, really. I'm just pretty sure it's not "normal." LOL!!!!!!!! Thanks in advance for your replies. :o)
terrie, I think that's really amazing! What a gift! Do you write now?
I'm trying to write a book (fiction based on truth), and it's taking a long time. I'm better at imagining "scenes" though (as I described before), so the book is coming along so slowly.
I'm relieved to know there are so many constant daydreamers around. I do feel life would be quite boring without them (in spite of the fact that I'd likely get more accomplished without them).
[QUOTE=floofthegoof]When I was a kid and couldn't finish my homework, my parents would try to punish me by forcing me to stay in my room with no books, TV or anything. I would stay in there for hours without complaint, because I was perfectly entertained by my own thoughts. After a whole day, they'd become frustrated. "Get out here!" lol.[/QUOTE]aol What if you don't daydream?I wonder if I do.
Do I?
I'm going to go write that screenplay now.ADHD definition: "figlet of my imagination" ......the shorter portion of a figment that an ADr is able to retain and act upon..
............................................................ ......................................................... 
I think hyperfocusing is different than daydreaming. I hyperfocus a lot. Meaning when I finally start somithing, I do it very intently to the exclusion of all else........When my daughter day dreams, she's sitting or standing just staring off into space.
Is this how some of you see the difference between the two?
I do see your point there. I'm thinking, I guess, of how my son can hyperfocus on something like video games, for example......although he's kind of out of that stage for now (whew!). When I have these daydreams, I don't think I'm necessarily staring off into space. I'm doing things, cleaning up, cooking, driving, whatever.....and I actually will decide to think about some particular daydream (I have a running list of them....LOL!). I will hear the conversation in my head, see the events taking place (this is all hypothetically speaking, of course, but I am completely focused on involving myself in the daydream). I don't know. It's weird.
Hmmm. I'll tell you. It's very much as if I'm trying to come up with the perfect scene for a movie (or something) in my head. I think of facial expressions, what is said, how it is said, what's going on around. I think I even mentioned in an earlier post that I could write these little daydreams down, and they would play out like a movie. You all think I'm crazy now, don't you?
I didn't even realise until a short while back that not everyone daydreams constantly. I do it all the time, quite lengthy ones too.
[QUOTE=floofthegoof]When I was a kid and couldn't finish my homework, my parents would try to punish me by forcing me to stay in my room with no books, TV or anything. I would stay in there for hours without complaint, because I was perfectly entertained by my own thoughts. After a whole day, they'd become frustrated. "Get out here!" lol.[/QUOTE]
Absolutely! I used to write stories when I was very young & I guess my record was something like 3 days for not leaving my bed because I was so into my character I was writing about. I was always alone so all I did was read & write & apparently hyperfocus. I didn't need anything like food or bathroom breaks because as long as my character got them I was fine.
good lord yes! I sure do..If it wasn't for my daydreams, I'd go insane, dunno how i'd get through all the those meeting things. *shivers*. And quite frankly its extremely irritating when they interupt me with some silly question they expected me to have listened to, lol. Without them though, I'd never be able to sit through anything, when for some reason I cant daydream I try my best to find an excuse to get out as it just drives me crazy. Just read the posts , and YES , YES , YES ,,(read the movie post) I also daydream(too much), when really bored ,I'll replay my favorite scenes from movies I've watched ,in my head(my version of an inner eye),or if I,m listening to the radio and i,ve seen the video for a song a few times , I can replay the video while the song is on the radio.
buy what really sucks is when I fixate on a bad topic like the boss chewing me out for not having a clean "work area",bad childhood memories(which has way too many holes)etc,,,
daniel
barb........so true! I'd rather be this way than bored. LOL! I swear, my daydreams are so detailed and lengthy at times I could write them as scenes in a movie.
Hmmmm. I may have to start writing screenplays.
I thought everyone daydreamed constantly until well into my adult years. I believed it was normal. I don't even know how I finally realized that not everyone daydreamed their way through life. They must be bored spitless most of the time. What do they do when they are alone with nothing to do or are involved in doing some stupid, mindless activity? How terribly sad to be non ADHD!
When I was a kid and couldn't finish my homework, my parents would try to punish me by forcing me to stay in my room with no books, TV or anything. I would stay in there for hours without complaint, because I was perfectly entertained by my own thoughts. After a whole day, they'd become frustrated. "Get out here!" lol.
repairman, I can do that same thing with music (seeing the video in my head at the same time).
floofthegoof, that's really funny about your time outs. I would spend hours in my room listening to music and visualizing scenes in my head to go with the music. I did this WAY before we had music TV. I'm going to try to figure out some way to take credit for the start of MTV. LOL!!!!!!!
The procrastination, the not being able to complete anything...Swirls of GREAT ideas & creativity that you KNOW can lead you & your family to a better life, but this damn FOG that looms over your mind & spirit suffocates the light and the hope.
[/QUOTE]
AMEN Breedlowe! but despite the anguish this elicits "onward thru the fog!"
seeker63 wrote in very small letters:breedlowe wrote in legible letters, although black:
The procrastination, the not being able to complete anything...Swirls of GREAT ideas & creativity that you KNOW can lead you & your family to a better life, but this damn FOG that looms over your mind & spirit suffocates the light and the hope. AMEN Breedlowe! but despite the anguish this elicits "onward thru the fog!"
It's like Admiral Breelove said on the Titanic "Dam the FOG! Full steam ahead!
Actually, besides the people that die and are hurt in fog, I like the fog. I pretend I live on the 'Fog Planet, Earth'. Do I have some fog stories for you! I've even skiied in the fog. Acutally it was a low cloud, but it looked and felt like fog. Must be the epi thing. same here, always being sent to my room, I started living in a world of books and never stopped until this year...so if I wasn't reading I would daydream unless something REALLY had my attention That's my life... daydreams. I live in them.. and often act on them.
yep, me too.. I daydream so much that I have a hard time getting my work done! It was one of the main reasons I got tested for ADD! I tend to rehearse situations in my mind before doing them... Like talking to the boss, or anything where I need to convey important imformation.
Of course there are the fun story type daydreams -- like one time I realized that I was daydreaming about being teacher of the year! LOL like that would happen
 [/QUOTE]
ok, what you said... i still need to think about it, but it triggered something in my mind...
they talk about the difference between hyperactive vs. inattentive, but what if the difference is more about how we deal... like when you're bored you DO things (hyperactivity), but i tend to drift off into my daydreams (inattentive)... hmm... let me think some more...
ok, now dark angel said something... maybe the predominantly hyperactive people use exteranl things/actions to stimulate them, and the inattentive people use internal things/thoughts as stimulation...
lilo38600.573587963
breedlowe, congratulations on the new baby!
lilo, the "radio" plays often for me! LOL!!! I hear the songs as clear as a bell. I have a very good ear for music, so maybe that explains why I hear it exactly as it's sung by the various artists. The worst thing, though, is when I get a horrible song stuck in my head and can't get it out. LOL!!!
[QUOTE=lilo]seriously... do other people NOT daydream constantly??!?!? then what do they think about?? what goes through their minds?? are their minds blank?does anyone else have a radio in their head? it's like that ING commercial where the guy is walking around and the other guy is following him with a boom box... the guy with his own theme song...[/QUOTE]
Well, I keep my mind busy with things at hand. When I'm at work, I'm working, calling, planning, etc.
Occasionally my mind goes blank when some AD trigger sets it off...
When I'm at home, I'm with the kids, eating, watching TV (which is a form of daydreaming, I suppose), working, or webbing, which keeps my mind active.
Maybe that's why people say I'm hyperactive, b/c I'm always keeping busy so my mind doesn't get restless. I can't have my mind undisciplined since I've been on meds, b/c on meds my mind is disciplined, and I like the consequences. Off meds (at the end of the day) I do not like where it goes to think sometimes, so I've learned to keep it busy so it doesn't think.
I guess if I do daydream, it's about work, or plans for the future, but I wouldn't call it daydreaming.
I can't say I've a radio in my head, but I do get some lymerics stuck there occasionally. "I love you!. You love me! We're a happy family..."
*ack!
 [QUOTE=breedlowe]I think the daydreams keep you sane...Having ADD is bad enough, but when you KNOW, YOU KNOW that your talent & potential are being WASTED and your dreams are slipping away, that's when it can sometimes HURT to daydream...Your eyes glaze over..You become the living dead. It's OFFICE SPACE(great movie) to the Nth Degree...
My phase for this spiral into mediocrity? "I can TASTE the days I waste"...The procrastination, the not being able to complete anything...Swirls of GREAT ideas & creativity that you KNOW can lead you & your family to a better life, but this damn FOG that looms over your mind & spirit suffocates the light and the hope.
I have a newborn daughter(a week & a day ol) & I HAVE to do
this for not only her but ME as an individual...So whether it's ADD
coaches, Meds, Herbs, Whatever...I HAVE TO GET MY ADD UNDER CONTROL...[/QUOTE]It doesn't sound like you're on meds. And if you are recently post-partem, I understand.
However, I was like you until
the meds came along, and although I still have challenges, I have seen
good progress in fulfilling my dreams and seeing my ideas implemented.
My trick? Meds, gadgets, and
surrounding me with people that believed in me, but didn't have AD
themselves, and could follow through in the directions I pointed them.
I recently had a friend beg me to go work for him, and write my own job
description! But what he offered was limiting, (not international), so
I opted out.
First child? Now you have another reason to harness your AD & it's elements (beneficial, and detrimental).
Good luck, and Happy Birth Day!
D
ok, now dark angel said something... maybe the predominantly hyperactive people use exteranl things/actions to stimulate them, and the inattentive people use internal things/thoughts as stimulation... [/QUOTE]
*ack!
Does that mean inattentive ADrs like to think, and hyperactive ADrs don't like to think? It might be true in some cases, eh?
However, it's not just when I'm bored, that I do. I do b/c I don't want to think. If I think, then I'm likely to go to all the failures of my life, which I do not like to revisit. I'd rather do, and plan for all the successes...
Thing is, I've had phenominal successes as well, but tend to dwell on the failures... HOw ADD of me...
[QUOTE=lilo] [QUOTE=Davidornado] Maybe that's why people say I'm hyperactive, b/c I'm always keeping busy so my mind doesn't get restless.
 [/QUOTE]
ok, what you said... i still need to think about it, but it triggered something in my mind...
they talk about the difference between hyperactive vs. inattentive, but what if the difference is more about how we deal... like when you're bored you DO things (hyperactivity), but i tend to drift off into my daydreams (inattentive)... hmm... let me think some more...
ok, now dark angel said something... maybe the predominantly hyperactive people use exteranl things/actions to stimulate them, and the inattentive people use internal things/thoughts as stimulation...
[/QUOTE]
That's pretty much what I gleaned from my psychologist. He had said that people with ADD inattentive and hyperactive are both really a form of hyperactivity. It's just that we deal with our excess energy and need for stimulation in different ways: Physically we click pens, shake our legs , anything to release that excess energy, Mentally we can be hyper also, our hyperactivity gets turned inward.. we try to get rid of out excess energy with daydreaming something that evidentely is more entertaining than what we percieve to be doing.
That's why stimulants work so well for so many. It stimulates the mind so that we can refocus on other things... we dont have to daydream, move, or whatever because our minds are already stimulated... Funny, its almost like giving a guard dog a meaty bone so you can sneak past him to get in to his territory.
Hope that makes sense
SHerry
[
I can't say I've a radio in my head, but I do get some lymerics stuck there occasionally. "I love you!. You love me! We're a happy family..."
*ack!
 [/QUOTE]
Here, Let me help you with that, we'll just replace that song with something else...
OK,
ready??
All together now, Disney Style!!!
" It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, its a small small world"
Sherry
hahaha!!You put the lime in the coconut, you drank them both up
You put the lime in the coconut, you drank them both up
You put the lime in the coconut,
called your doctor, woke him up, and said,
'Doctor, ain't there nothing I can take,
I say, Doctor, to relieve this belly ache?
I say, Doctor, ain't there nothin' I can take,
I say, Doctor, to relieve this belly ache?'
or better yet....
na na nana nana na
na na nana nana na
na na nana nana na
(the chicken dance song)
lilo38600.7472916667I don't call it a daydream, I call it HATING my damn Job & knowing that I am meant for better than this...
[QUOTE=breedlowe]I don't call it a daydream, I call it HATING my damn Job & knowing that I am meant for better than this...[/QUOTE]
Yep......I think if we look at WHAT we daydream, we may all see some unhappiness in certain areas of our lives. I'm thinking back to a few that I'm not even about to admit to right now. Not here anyway.
[QUOTE=breedlowe]I don't call it a daydream, I call it HATING my damn Job & knowing that I am meant for better than this...[/QUOTE]
not me... I aboluetely LOVE my job!!! There are aspects of course that I dislike.. but its perfect for a person with ADD. I am on my feet all day long, change activities EVERY hour, and get to be creative and act like a kid... shoot, I even get to play with puppets!
SHerry
The best job I ever had was an activities director for a posh retirement villa. I planned fun events and things for the elderly people who lived without assistance in apartments. I even took some of them shopping and out to eat a number of times, and when I did, I got to DRIVE a limo! So much fun. I also designed a monthy newsletter and wrote stories about the various residents. I loved every minute of that job. Everyone was so happy and appreciative of the work I did. It was like having 70 more grandparents to love. I took that job after being burned completely out by a three year stint in advertising sales for a lame local TV station. The pay was decent, but it was the absolutely worst job I ever had, and it sent me into a deep depression. Leaving there and going to work for the retirement villa was the best job change I could have ever had. I'm a stay at home mom now and have no idea when I'll go back to work, but there's a neat little retirement villa not far from me, and I often think I'd like to work there some day.
BTW.....to stay on the daydream topic....my daydreams would often rule my life during the time I was so miserable in the advertising sales job I mentioned.
I have daydreams a lot! My daydreams can be day-mares also! I have scenarios playing in my head of what would happen if my huband died, what would I do if there was an intruder in my home, what would it be like to be in an auto accident. I can get so carried away with these dreams that I emotionally react to them. The other morning I was imagining my hubby having an operation - he always says he wants to get liposuction for his double chin - and I imagined that they hit an artery and that he died on the operating table (not very realistic dream) and I started crying even. I told him I didn't want him to get the operation! Can you believe that ! Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy.
When I was small - around 8 or 10 - I had daydreams about fires in our house. I was paralyzed by the fear of having a fire in our house. My room was next to the furnace room. I'll bet I wasted a whole 6 months of my life worrying about a fire that never happened.
I find myself coming out of these daydreams and wondering how much time has passed. I do it all the time. On medication the daydreams are reduced.
I guess you could say I have a great imagination. I need to learn to control it to be more positive in my life.
I think the daydreams keep you sane...Having ADD is bad enough, but when you KNOW, YOU KNOW that your talent & potential are being WASTED and your dreams are slipping away, that's when it can sometimes HURT to daydream...Your eyes glaze over..You become the living dead. It's OFFICE SPACE(great movie) to the Nth Degree...
My phase for this spiral into mediocrity? "I can TASTE the days I waste"...The procrastination, the not being able to complete anything...Swirls of GREAT ideas & creativity that you KNOW can lead you & your family to a better life, but this damn FOG that looms over your mind & spirit suffocates the light and the hope.
I have a newborn daughter(a week & a day ol) & I HAVE to do this for not only her but ME as an individual...So whether it's ADD coaches, Meds, Herbs, Whatever...I HAVE TO GET MY ADD UNDER CONTROL...
seriously... do other people NOT daydream constantly??!?!? then what do they think about?? what goes through their minds?? are their minds blank?anyway, when i was in school, i'd carry a book around and turn the pages every so often so it would look like i was reading while i was really daydreaming. even now, i sometimes pretend i'm sleeping so that i can finish a "story" in my head... and at work i like it when i have to do something simple and repetitive because then i don't have to concentrate on what i'm doing, and i can just let my mind go....
does anyone else have a radio in their head? it's like that ING commercial where the guy is walking around and the other guy is following him with a boom box... the guy with his own theme song...
I daydream excessively and taking stimulants defintely helps stop my excessive daydreaming.
[QUOTE=kibbles002][QUOTE=lilo] [QUOTE=Davidornado] Maybe that's why people say I'm hyperactive, b/c I'm always keeping busy so my mind doesn't get restless.[/QUOTE]ok, what you said... i still need to think about it, but it triggered something in my mind...
they talk about the
difference between hyperactive vs. inattentive, but what if the
difference is more about how we deal... like when you're bored
you DO things (hyperactivity), but i tend to drift off into my
daydreams (inattentive)... hmm... let me think some more...
ok,
now dark angel said something... maybe the predominantly
hyperactive people use exteranl things/actions to stimulate them, and
the inattentive people use internal things/thoughts as stimulation... [/QUOTE]That's
pretty much what I gleaned from my psychologist. He had said that
people with ADD inattentive and hyperactive are both really a form of
hyperactivity. It's just that we deal with our excess energy and
need for stimulation in different ways: Physically we click pens, shake
our legs , anything to release that excess energy, Mentally we can be
hyper also, our hyperactivity gets turned inward.. we try to get rid of
out excess energy with daydreaming something that evidentely is more
entertaining than what we percieve to be doing.
That's why stimulants work so well for so many. It stimulates the mind so that we can refocus on other things... we dont have to daydream, move, or whatever because our minds are already stimulated... Funny, its almost like giving a guard dog a meaty bone so you can sneak past him to get in to his territory.
Hope that makes sense
SHerry[/QUOTE]I'd be very satisfied with a meaty T-bone!
You put the lime in the coconut, you drank them both up
You put the lime in the coconut, you drank them both up
You put the lime in the coconut,
called your doctor, woke him up, and said,
'Doctor, ain't there nothing I can take,
I say, Doctor, to relieve this belly ache?
I say, Doctor, ain't there nothin' I can take,
I say, Doctor, to relieve this belly ache?'
or better yet....
na na nana nana na
na na nana nana na
na na nana nana na
(the chicken dance song)
[/QUOTE]Hey! I just downloaded that song on Saturday! Harry NilssonI can't ID the chicken song, though.
Na na na na,
na na na na,
na na na na,
na na, gooooodbye
is the closest I can get...
 [QUOTE=kibbles002][quote=Davidornadog]I can't say I've a radio in my head, but I do get some limericks stuck there occasionally. "I love you!. You love me! We're a happy family..."
*ack![/QUOTE]Here, Let me help you with that, we'll just replace that song with something else...
OK,
ready??
All together now, Disney Style!!!
"It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, its a small small world"Sherry[/QUOTE] [quote=Like Davidornadog originally]*ack![/quote]
*ack!
http://www.realbeer.com/edu/chickendance.phpyou can even hear the music... click on the link under the title.
it's a standard at weddings where i live.
lilo38600.860462963Hey Lil'o!
Thanks...