Just found out about MD

[Alex]

Ok, first I'll introduce myself. I am 21 years old, live with a GREAT family insouthern California, and relatively enjoy my life. Not four hours ago, I waslaying in bed and decided to Google something. I deided to Google an "issue"that I've had since I can remember. And that isue is playing with strings withmy hands. I like to play with shoelaces with my hands, especially when listeningto music. I decided to Google things such as "playing with strings", "mentaldisorder with playing with strings" etc. I came across nothing directly relatedBUT I found a topic on Yahoo! answers titled "Is this a metal problem?" orsomething along those lines. The poster went into detail about how she createscharacters in her head and plays how they might react with eachother in theirmind, like a roleplay. She stated she'd been doing it before she could remember,and that she can (for hours) lay in bed before going to sleep and daydream. Shealso stated that she likes to play with things in her hands when doing so. Ifelt like I'd been hit with a train. It perfectly described me.I researched MDand nearly every single symptom made the puzzle pieces fit for me.
I have been daydreaming for awhile, since I was about 8, now I'm 21. My firstday dream I can remember was pretending I was a singer, and that I was famous.Then it went into being an actor. I'd make up movie plots in my head ad play thetrailer in my mind, or what the trailer would be like, even down to the movieposter and what the DVD case would look like, down to every detail. I'd also seta release date for the film in my mind and cast famous celebrities in my head aswell, for who will be playing who. As I've gotten older I've pretending I'm thelead singer of a band. It's been the same band since about 2008. Things havebecome INCREDIBLY DETAILED. I've named the band, named their albums, and everysingle album one by one I've set a release date. I've written down tour dates(lol, I'm smiling as I'm writing this, it's NUTS), decided which songs will besingles, what songs will go in what order on the albums and tour shows, what thealbum art will look like, the members of the band (some celebrities,some kids Iwent to school with), what they wear on stage, what the website will look likePAGE BY PAGE, and...get this...I've even created a blog that is dedicated to theband where I update info like "New album coming May 2nd!" etc. I also uploadpics of the album covers etc. Of course it's a private blog lol. Sometimes Ialso (when no ones home of course) blast the music in my headphones and pretendI'm performing on stage, and I always have the shoelaces that I play with in myhands. I can't do it without them.
I don't always daydream about me being in a band though, I also daydream ofactually having friends over (pretend friends, kids I go to school with andnever talked to because I'm too shy to aproach them) and hanging out with themin front of my parents. I'm alot more outspoken in my daydreams though. Iimagine conversations and play them in my mind. I do daydream in front ofpeople, heck I even do it at work. But I have to be careful because if I get toointo it, my lips begin to move as if I'm talking to someone and I smile andpeople begin to look at me like I'm crazy. It's happened with my parents. Ispecifically remember me daydreaming when I was about 13 and me having animaginary conversation with one of my made up characters, my dad could see memoving my lips as if I was talking to myself. He said "Who are you talking toover there and smiling at", and I freaked out and quickly said "Oh, I was justthinking of something funny that was in a movie I saw..."
The daydreaming plays a HUGE part in my life, but does it affect it, negatively?No, not at all. I actually enjoy it, and I'm able to control my daydreaming,when not to do it etc. Some have said that their MD began after some sort oftrauma such as abuse or something along those lines. I was never abused as achild, and do know that you don't necessarily have to had experianced some kindof trauma in order to have MD. I am truly happy that I have found out that A.I'm NOT the only one and B. I've figured out what the heck I've been goingthrough all these years.

[Brett Elaine]

Hi Alex!! I just joined a week ago and am still so surprised that there seem to be a lot of other people besides me who have MD.

I was kind of smiling when I was reading the amount of detail you went into with your band daydream, because I'm glad I'm not the only one who does this! I also have a DD where I'm a singer and I have several notebooks filled with many albums-worth of complete songs with unique lyrics & melodies & all of that. I timed the songs, picked which ones would be singles, chose certain artists to be featured on certain songs, etc. I also outlined tour dates and destinations, both domestic & international and of course when no one was home, I acted out concerts/performances and picked out set design, costumes/outfits, etc. LOL. I haven't DDed with this scenario in a while though; throughout the years it has kind of worn me down because the main character seems almost larger than life. I've randomly (and unintentionally) taken breaks from it in the past so that's probably what's happening right now.

I've had a few other DDs that are just as intense and detailed but are a little more grounded/practical. One thing I find really interesting is that there are some of us who twitch, twirl, pace, or hold things while DDing, and then some of us who don't. I don't do those things, but I often feel compelled to mouth the conversations that my main character is having, I guess because I'm thinking it through to make sure it seems plausible? I also used to write down some of these conversations and but I stopped that not too long ago.

[Alex]

So if it's not impacting me negatively, it's not maladaptive? Because reading up on Maladaptive Daysreaming, it can either get in the way of things, or it does not. It depends on the person...

EludeMyFantasies said:

I don't think a person has to suffer trauma in order to be a fantasizer. I haven't suffered any major events and I still fantasize however unlike you mine fantasizing is compulsive and addictive. I also have ADHD inattentive type, this of course makes me very fantasy prone and compulsive. I enjoy fantaszing and get a good feeling from it. Its just the amount at which I do it thats the problems!

Thanks for sharing your story with us :) One thing you will notice is that everyone here fantasizes in many different ways, it effects everyone differently and that some want to stop and some don't. 

I think that is is important to remember that if this isn't effecting you negatively or causing you problems is isn't maladaptive or a disorder. Just something wonderful that you do. Welcome to the site!

[Ebony]

I only found out about MD and joined the other day, but i've been daydreaming since i can remember, and although things have changed, i too have mainly followed a single extremely detailed story my whole life (i've had a couple of others too but they don't last too long). I didn't realise it was strange until someone pointed out my bizarre and rapidly changing expressions on the bus (when i DD the expressions usually come through and sometimes i talk aloud) and i vaguely explained it and they pointed out that it was incredibly weird (I thought it was relatively normal at that point because my best friend does it too) so i figured i'd do some research. Sometimes i like the fact that i know what it is, but sometimes i find it depressing because previously i didn't think there was anything strange about me and now i know there is. But i still love it so its okay.