Irritation/Restlessness/Withdrawal symptoms

[Harshit]

Keeping your motivation up for trying to stop daydreaming, I find myself in a constant struggle with myself. While I am sure that is something that might be common for a lot of people here, there's one particular concern on which I would like to hear some personal experiences over. When I do try to not daydream, the urge to daydream starts turn into restlessness in no time. It gets overwhelming in time, and extremely irritating. It tires me mentally and I am often not able to work in that state of restlessness. I have been in places where I have had assignments due,

I have been in places where I have had assignments due, its during these periods where I let myself daydream freely because I can't afford the restlessness. I know it's counter productive as daydreaming in itself severely affects my work. But at a time like that, I almost never feel I have a choice to do what is good for me. I have to pick better of two bad alternatives. 

In general, this withdrawal restlessness is very common. The only time I have not had this restlessness is when I was emotionally beating myself up about my daydreaming. Which replaced my restlessness with pity and sorrow, and I was pushed to a place very close to depression. I have received a warning from my doctor that I have been displaying early signs of depression. In order to be in a better place emotionally, I got to usual daydreaming, and I don't think I display those symptoms anymore. Of course, every time I come back to reality I am filled with regret about lost time and my inability to control it. 

Have anyone of you faced the sort of restlessness a time you have tried to quit daydreaming. I have read some blogs here about why and how I should consider stopping the daydreams. But I could use some more experiences on the withdrawal symptoms that follow and how people dealt with it. The highest I have been able to control it has been 2 weeks. Has anyone been able to control their MD and can advice me on how they kept going and how they dealt with restlessness tiredness and irritation? Also how did they manage to balance it with work? I look forward to anything people might have to share in this regard. 

[EntiWarmRock]

I'm experiencing this right now! But for me it has been 3 months. You GOTTA keep doing it. Not daydreaming I mean. But here's how it is. There doesn't have to be a choice. You can have both. It may not feel like it, but here's what you do.

You have a choice every day about what you're going to do. Are you going to daydream? Are you not? Will you allow yourself what you hope will be a few minutes? (And not a run on). 

Well of course every time you choose not to daydream, you are taking a step towards healthiness. But you can DEFINATELY allow for some fallbacks. Some slip ups. You're not going to do this in 2 weeks or 5 months or even a year. Rome wasn't built overnight.

And it's ok to choose to daydream sometimes. As for the restlessness...It's going to happen. I am telling you, get out there with friends (if you can) BE AROUND PEOPLE. It helps SO much. Even if you simply hang out in a cafe, if you're too uncomfortable to talk to anyone. 

Do your assignments with the promise of treating yourself when you finish. 

(sometimes by allowing some daydreaming, sometimes by idk watching something nice, eating food, something. Distract yourself with work, and when you want to daydream, maybe a mantra will help, something you repeat over and over until you can focus on something else. That act will force your brain to think about what you are saying. Also, meditation. Yoga. Excersise. Swimming.) 

It's not going to take the restlessness away but it will help. And as you choose more and more not to daydream, it will lessen. It will. It's like a break up or death, eventually you dont think so much about it or have the urges to cry and be despressed.

Depression for a death or break up, restlessness for this daydreaming. Both lift eventually as we fill our lives up with other things. And then you will daydream, but will be MUCH better at controlling it and then you will feel much freer and able to enjoy yourself, you wont have the 'drug addict' need anymore

[Harshit]

Thank you for your response. I am still trying to keep it up. but I sorta miserably fail every day, I think for now I am trying to cut it down, maybe in time would be able to run it out completely.

[Ulaan Gom]

So I've never been able to completely eliminate daydreaming from my life so far, but I have been able to make significant strides. Like you, I've noticed that my daydreams become especially intense during assignments or other periods of responsibility, loneliness, or embarrassment, because daydreaming serves as a temporary escape—one which does not address the issues at hand. I do agree that it is okay to daydream from time to time, there's nothing inherently wrong in it. If the struggle against daydreaming gets overwhelming, maybe start shifting the focus towards improving your real life, and start taking steps in that direction.

For me, practicing regular exercise has done wonders to develop a sense of discipline, purpose, and boosted my energy and self-esteem. Even if it's only five minutes a day, I feel that regular exercise is a must, as it will greatly improve all aspects of your real life. As for the assignments, I've found that writing timed schedules really helps me stay on track. Don't beat yourself up if you can't follow your schedules exactly, because just making them will help with curbing daydreams.

I truly wish you the best of luck. I believe if you take small and consistent steps daily to improving your real life, it will naturally reduce your tendency to daydream and you'll be happier in the process. :)

[Sarath]

I am trying to stop my MDD. It results in a serious desire of going out and making friends and spending time with people. It is  aserious urge. But all the time friends are not available to hangout. This is my current situation.

[Katie]

I have also experienced really intense restlessness and difficulty concentrating when trying to complete assignments etc at work and feeling hugely tempted to dream. For me I have realised that the restlessness is a physical symptom of my anxiety, usually about the assignment. I usually dream way more when I'm anxious but when I'm trying not to dream I get this restlessness instead, which like you say, can make me equally unproductive. I can hardly spend 10 or even 5 minutes sat at my desk before I get up, and when I am sat there I jump from task to task; emails, then looking at my calendar, then a spreadsheet, then back to emails and on and on, barely spending more than 1 minute on each, and definitely not accomplishing anything.
Something that I have found helps me to deal with the restlessness when this happens is to pick one task and then set my alarm for a very short amount of time (usually 15 minute but sometimes even less). I say to myself for just this small amount of time I will not get up from my desk and I will do just the one task I have picked. I'm not trying to finish the task during this short time, all I am trying to do is to focus and concentrate this one task until my alarm goes off, and not to restlessly skip to doing something else. Then, when the alarm goes off, if I want to jump to another task, or get up from my desk, or whatever, then I can and I will allow myself not to feel guilty about this. Often however, the success I feel at having managed to focus for 15 minutes is like a little reward. It makes me feel good and that I have achieved something, and that feeling is enough that I will set my alarm for another 15 minutes and go again. I'll do this again and again, and every time the alarm goes off I will give myself a genuine option, do I get up, do I dream for 15 minutes, do I continue working etc. I have found this to really really help me get through the restless days and manage to be at least somewhat productive.