Is there a stop button...

[Brooke]

I cannot remember a time when I didn't mix fantasy and reality.  I live in my head and I don't know how to get out.  I cannot appreciate what is real when I spend so much time inventing these alternate realities.  They are constantly changing which just makes me realize more and more that if I don't even know what I want out of my daydreams how am I supposed to know where to direct my energy in real life.  I feel that if I spent less time focussing on being fulfilled by what isn't real and more time on being content with what is that I could finally find some peace, but I don't know how that is done.  I was hoping that a few of you would have some suggestions, at least on where to start.  

 

I have felt out of control for years, but have never had been able to articulate myself until tonight when I found that I am far from being alone in this and that I'm not crazy.  Being able to separate reality from fantasy has sometimes made me feel even more insane because I couldn't understand why I still lived in a world that I knew didn't and would never exist.  What good could possibly come of that?  I've lost sight of the beauty of daydreaming and would love to be reminded that it's not an entirely terrible thing. 

 

If nothing else I would like to say thank you for creating this group and to all the members.  I feel less ashamed now than I have in years.  I have always felt as though I've had a terrible secret that I could never reveal, but now I think I could even bring it up in therapy without feeling like a complete lunatic.  It's empowering to know that a community exists in which others understand the ordeal first hand, especially when so little is known about it academically.