Hello!

[Chantelle Whelan]

I've joined the site today and thought I'd just write an entry with a bit about myself and why I joined. Ever since I can remember I have had an overactive imagination. I first noticed that I was different from everyone else, when at the age of about 11, my friends lost interest in 'make-up' games (where you basically pretend to be different people) but I didn't lose the interest. I would just play them by myself in the playground and would have carried on in secondary school if I wouldn't have been bullied for it. 

Since it became unacceptable for me to play 'make-up' games, I guess it all transferred into my head and I've lived in this make believe world ever since. I can be at uni, driving, on the bus, watching TV, pretty much anything but in actual fact I'm in my make-believe world. My daydreams vary, sometimes I imagine I'm an alternate version of myself - slimmer, better looking, more articulate, better at social situations, athletic. Sometimes I change my whole history, like one I've been particularly enjoying lately is where I grew up in a white picket fenced community in America and I have a 'normal' family - Dad who is an accountant, Mum who is an interior designer, a twin sister and an older brother. I then go off to uni in Chicago where I meet and fall in love with a character from the programme 'Friday Night Lights' (who I have a crush on - no not the actor - the character). Sometimes I'm a famous singer/actress/political activist. Or sometimes I construct plots for films. I can daydream at any time, but am particularly prone to it when listening to music or after watching a film/TV programme. Needless to say I can't get through an episode of 'Friday Night Lights' without going into my make believe world anymore.

I've been described as a female version of JD from 'Scrubs', which I took as a compliment and I really value my imagination, it's a part of me. But sometimes, especially lately, I go through phases where I start to get depressed that my daydreams aren't real and never will be. I have a great time fantasising but when I stop and come back to the real world, it's like I spiral down a black hole and I feel like I can't cope. I realised that it's like an addiction and decided to google it, which is how I found out about maladaptive daydreaming and this website. I'm hoping that at least being able to talk about this with other people will help. My friends don't understand and I don't dare tell them how hard I find the 'real world'.

I'd love to hear from anyone else who shares my experiences....

Chantelle x

[Paracosm]

Hi Chantelle! :) I can relate a lot to what you described, although I was homeschooled, so I never was around enough "normal" people to know that I was different. I just assumed everyone was as crazy as I was and I never questioned my daydreaming until more recently when I realized I was no longer living in the same reality as everyone else, and no matter how hard I tried, it didn't seem real anymore. In my daydreams, I feel so alive and so free. In the world that everyone calls "reality", I feel like a living dead person. I feel detached and incapable of moving my life forward.

Anyway, welcome to Wild Minds! :)

[taffle]

Hi and welcome to wild minds! I also value my imagination but I don't mind that my daydreams aren't real.