Daydreaming is like breathing, ubiquitous.

[sanawana]

Hi everyone. This is my first post. I am a Polish girl, I am almost 25 years old. I set up an account here because there is hardly any material on maladaptive daydreaming in my mother tongue.

Very long time ago I fell into this misfortune. I have no siblings, I wasn't liked at school. I spent a lot of time alone and I think daydreaming was a way to make my life more interesting. This is how it started. Over the years I have spent many hours daydreaming. While daydreaming, I listened to music and turned around the room. I used to be able to go round and round for hours. Not anymore. Because after a short time my heart pounds quickly. I am afraid that I will hurt myself in this way.

My present life is satisfying. I don't have to go to fantasies, daydreams because my real life is better than them. And yet, despite everything, I cannot free myself from them. They are like breathing, I am not even aware that they creep into my mind unnoticed. They are on my mind basically all the time. As if I often couldn't think without fantasizing. For the last week I have banned myself from light music because, as you probably know, music is a great trigger for fantasies. Yet it did not help. I think fantasizing has become an addiction over the years, so it's so hard for me to break free from it. I wonder what is the source of this waking dream. It seems to me that this is an attempt to escape suffering, moreover, if I have no influence on something, I can imagine that I am a really influential person and at least try to change what is wrong. In addition, I've always wanted to be famous. I have no chance of it, so I imagine it. However, I try to fight this desire for fame, realizing that it has no real value or benefit. Despite this awareness, I cannot free myself from fantasies. In addition, I think a lot about the world and ideals, and when I am alone, I imagine that I have an interlocutor. Mostly someone interesting.

 I tried to fight it all as my real life is valuable enough that I don't have to escape into the world of fantasy. Recently, I discovered something else. I escape into the world of fantasy because I need emotions and real life rarely provides us with such emotions. And even as he delivers it through his fantasies, they find an outlet. 

Please help me. What can I do to cure myself from daydreaming? I'm at a stage whene I really want to stop it. I am aware, that I don't need it, I prefer to live my own life. And yet I cannot free myself from it. The fantasies keep running in my head, even after putting the trigger off.

Sanawana

[oneira]

I feel like if your life was truly satisfying to you, you wouldn't daydream this often and you wouldn't slip into daydreams this easily. There is always a reason - try to think about it. Maybe you crave adventure, maybe you wish you were more confident, have more influence, like you said - even a small thing can make us feel like our lives are not enough. Maybe you're just bored. You've also mentioned suffering - doesn't sound very satisfying to me ;) Finding out why you daydream in the first place is the foremost step in fighting it.

[Cain]

Hi There!

Well I'm no expert and I'm in the same boat as you. I've read it's possible to overcome MD and I'm attempting to. 

If you're looking for resources to try and understand what you're going through I'd recommend you go through this blog: https://maladaptivedaydreamingguide.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/part-i...

This helped me make sense of what I've been going through. Hopefully this helps you too.