Hello...This is Me

[Daniel D Woodard]

Hi everyone, I'm Dan, the new kid in town. A little of my background: I'm 63 yo; married to the love of my life for 37 yrs; Father of two beautiful grown children; I am owned by a little 13 yo Shih Tsu named Precious; worked in telecommunications for 30 yrs, now retired (and loving it); love gardening & communing with nature. Self improvement is also one of my passions. Which is probably the main reason I ended up here with fellow MD people. I want to communicate with other people that have an uncontrollable urge to daydream.

For me, as near as I can recollect, this phenomena started at a very young age. A severe head injury at the age of 7 or 8 seems to have precipitated my journey into MD. Suffice it to say, that at that time, there wasn't much known or treatment for what we now know as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or the correlating condition of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

After the injury, I experienced what could be described as a disconnect from reality. I felt I was in a dream and my behavior became bizarre. I became withdrawn and fearful. My parents, loved ones & friends didn't know what to make of it. The connection between the injury & the behavior was never made and I felt that it was some flaw of my character I was unable to overcome. Thus began a downward spiral into chronic deep depression & self-loathing.

It was with this psychological backdrop that I entered into a world of my own making. It was refuge from a world I didn't understand and was afraid of. I guarded this secret life at almost any cost. I felt it was weird & that I would be rejected if anyone knew about it. It still isn't easy to talk about, but I am getting more comfortable with it.

Well that's probably enough of an introduction for now. I just want to say how wonderful it feels to know that I am not alone and there are many of us that understand this "thing" we're dealing with. Stay strong my fellow dreamers & remember to Love yourselves, you are truly amazing.

Dan

[Daniel D Woodard]

Hi Yolanda-good to meet you. I'm not sure of the reason either. I just try to connect the dots by reviewing my memories to when it all started. I think if I can understand why this happened, I will be able to deal with it better and that I'm not some kind of weirdo.

[Yolanda]

Hi, I'm an older person too.  I didn't experience any traumatic physical injury, but for some reason, I've spent most of my life in daydreams.