Boredom?

[Ivy White]

I have this feeling that it is very hard for me to stave off daydreaming when I am bored. Typically I will DD in public transport, driving, when I wait for something, doing chores. When I'm in the middle of an interesting activity I don't seem to do it as much or it doesn't seem to "pop up".

I also wonder if this does not have something to do about why it gets so bad at work (where I am bored to tears). I used to do it massively in school, when I still went to school.

Does anyone else notice a link between their daydreaming and boredom?

[Chelsea]

I definitely daydream more when I am bored but I also daydream during activities I am interested in, such as playing with my dog, playing a video game, watching a movie or tv show, or playing tennis. So while boredom increases the amount I daydream  I also daydream while doing activities I enjoy, even if it is around other people (including family and friends). Even if my life was full of activities ad I was never bored I would still daydream. It is just how my mind works.

[Kay M]

I daydream when I am bored too. I find that its good for passing time when I am bored and cant go out and do stuff, like on long journeys. Don't know what regular people do.

[Emily]

Actually I can't remember the last time I've felt bored, probably because of my daydreams.  If I ever have any downtime, I'm instantly daydreaming before boredom becomes a problem.

[Floris]

I don't have to "notice" it since it's so blatantly obvious. 

Work and school is where you learn to do pretty much everything you don't really want to keep doing the rest of your life. It's not easy to unlearn, you were programmed for decades.

You need to find that thing that does not bore you and keeps you pleasantly occupied. Don't think about money too much right away. Watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7rsTjQfxmA

[Sasha Greenwood]

Boredom is a huge trigger for me! Everything you described is pretty much a trigger for me (chores are definitely a trigger).

I tend to DD while driving as well, and it's super dangerous! When I first went to my therapist (thankfully she has experience with daydreamers), she told me I must stop daydreaming while driving ASAP.

I have to listen to NPR or my favorite music to distract me. I can't listen to soundtrack music, trance, or classical while in the car because that also triggers my DD. You might consider doing something like that.

[Tia Joseph]

I also daydream when I'm bored. Like during school or when I'm sitting at home watching TV or in the car. Usually when I'm out with friends I am in the present moment, and not stuck in my head daydreaming which is good, sometimes. Sometimes, b/c I do have some social anxiety and just never know when it's going to hit in certain social situations.

[Roel]

idk I daydream every moment, not just whene I'm bored :/ Also whene I want to do fun stuff, I often can't focus because of my dreams.

[Kia Hood]

I think it's mostly due to the fact that when you are bored, it's because you either lack interest in your current activity (i.e. chores or work you don't want to do) or because your mind isn't being busy enough (i.e. waiting for something, sitting in public transportation), meaning your mind wanders off as a defense mechanism against the boredom. When your mind is busy on the other hand, like when you're doing something you actually enjoy (spending time with your friends, doing whatever you do as a hobby) or when you have to concentrate on something, like a task you want to do but that also requires concentration, then that one thing is your brain's focus, meaning there is less space for other thoughts to take over. Basically, I think MD and DD in general have a lot to do with how occupied your brain is and it's a way of entertaining yourself while nothing else does.

[Ivy White]

That's pretty much true, I think. At least it resonates as true for me. But it also means that my brain is really bored most of the time, which is rather scary. Even things that interest me and engage me (like painting and such) can cause me to daydream massively, or can be disrupted by daydreams. I often say jokingly that my attention span lasts 20 minutes, maybe that's not such a joke and I am bored of anything after 20 minutes.

[Alta Morden]

Yes, I agree that boredom sets them off.  But I suspect that with we MDD'ers, we have a high need for excitement and emotion (just speculating) and since the real world will only provide that occasionally we turn to our very exciting inner worlds.

I have some times speculated that extreme athletes are like that but they have turned to high risk sports to provide the emotional high.  Maybe even compulsive video gamers, really that is just getting 'plots' and excitement from an external rather than an internal source.

[Philip Dorrell]

Boredom is itself a mal-adaptive state: it's your brain telling you that you're not currently learning anything interesting or useful. The society that you live in may impose it's own ideas about what is "interesting" or "useful", but, whether you like it or not, your brain comes with it's own criteria for what is and what isn't boring.

The only cure for boredom is actually to do something less boring. For example, get a new job. Or, depending on the job, behave differently in your current job.

And, as a non-MD-er, I think I can confirm that there is a strong link between boredom and daydreaming, for everyone.

One difference I think is that sometimes I wish I could relieve the boredom by daydreaming, but there are too many distractions in the current situation, so actually I can't.