Getting Started

[Amy Buttz]

Hi, I am new here,  Forgive me if this sounds disjointed, because even though I have been daydreaming for over thirty years, I have only been talking about it as an issue for a few years.  I was so happy to find this website.  Several years ago, I realized the biggest challenge I had every day was daydreaming.  I tried to find information, but couldn't.  Every now and again I would check and finally came across this website. 

I have been daydreaming since I was twelve years old.  I tried to stop even when I was a kid, but never could.  I felt like a failure.  I did not tell anyone about this until recently.  I feel embarassed and stupid.  When I try to explain this, it sounds ridiculous, like I should just be able to not daydream anymore, but I can't.  There have been only two times in my life when I did not daydream and I wasn't trying to stop it, my first year of college and two years when I lived on a ranch.  I have no idea why the daydreams stopped at those particular times, but they did return while I lived on the ranch after the two years. 

Currently, I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place.  Even though my day dreaming still feels good, it also feels bad.  Now I have physical sysmptoms related to daydreaming, like a low level headache and upset stomach.  When I start looking at the real world agian, I feel kind of dazed.  I also have difficulty sleeping and waking up and I feel tired all the time.  When I try to stop daydreaming, these things go away but I get extremely nervous, fidgety, edgy, anxious, and growly, and that doesn't feel good either.  When I consider trying to do something about this, a couple things come to mind.  I have been doing this for a long time and thinking about life without it is scary.  Life with this is difficult, but at least it is familiar.  I have been to couseling in the past, because my parents were abusive and neglectful.  I know I still need some help dealing with issues with my mom.  Sometimes I wonder if working on my chilhood issues would help with the daydreaming, but then I also think that if I go through all the hard and painful work of dealing with old wounds and the daydreaming is still an issue, that I will feel defeated.

Hearing about other peoples' struggles with this has been a small relief.  I was feeling embarassed, ashamed, stupid, and alone.  Knowing that other people have similar issues gives me some hope.  I have tried to discuss this with my husband and even though he is sympathetic, he doesn't understand how big of a struggle this is for me.   

   

[Amy Buttz]

Cordellia, good to know I am not the only one who has a physical reaction to this. 

[Amy Buttz]

Hi, Roxanne, I do not know why this happens and yes, if I stop daydreaming it does go away.  In the past, daydreaming has been very soothung.  I found that if I was getting edgy and gave into the daydreams, I felt better.  I don't understand the change myself.

[roxanne]

Wow, I wonder if it's a dopamine overload.  That would be interesting to run past Cynthia.  I get it from eating too much sugar.

[Cordellia Amethyste Rose]

I get headaches from too much daydreaming, too.  It's the same feeling I get when I sleep too much or watch too much TV.  It sucks.  

[roxanne]

How does your DD'ing cause you to have headache & upset stomach?  That's really awful.  Could it be from something else?  If you stop DD'ing, it goes away?