I need a hobby

[Wakethenight]

I moved into a new place today and I share a house with several roomates. I think this move will help with my MD greatly, at least along the lines of decreasing the ability for me to actively indulge in MD. What I mean by this is purposefully letting my self indulge in a trigger. The way my new room is set up, I cannot play my music at night and do my pacing/hoping thing without gaining unwanted attention.  It is also summer, so I think I will take the opportunity to  avoid watching tv (since a lot of shows are off anyway) which is another trigger.

This could be a new chapter in my life.

My one big issues is trying to figure out what to do about my writing fanfiction. One of the pros of MD that I see people on here give, is that MD allows for better creativity. And I would say that I also like the fact that my MD gives me good story ideas. However, I know that writing just gives me the excuse to indulge in MD. Writing is a hobby I like. It's a hobby I am bad at, because I stare endlessly at my screen MDing. I do eventually write something which I am proud of, but it is not substantial enough to be worth all that time staring at a screen when I could be doing something else. For example,  I spend about five hours at my computer and I hardly write a page.

Does anyone have any idea of a hobby I can undertake that could replace my writing hobby? I think drawing would be a trigger for sure. I'd have to avoid anything that would involve "creating a story". Knitting would be good, but it would hurt my hands (I'm developing carpal tunnel).

Any ideas?

[johnny joe]

I absolutely agree with escarei, there isn't much point in doing something just to avoid DDing and if you do undertake a new hobby it should be something productive or conducive to your own personal growth; something that will benefit you in the long run, help you learn more about yourself, or bring out a new side of you.

Being a maladaptive daydreamer, I imagine that your mind demands a lot of freedom and you appreciate your leisure time as much as I appreciate mine. For this reason I find that I easily get bored of things that interfere with my DDs and you should keep this in mind if you are trying to start a new chapter in your life that consists of less DDing.

If you are like me, any non-trigger hobby may likely become boring fast because it takes up the mental resources normally allocated to DDing. The boredom is not a quality of the activity itself; the boredom comes from the unsatisfied urge to DD. Productive work becomes difficult because it requires investing time to produce something rewarding (delayed gratification) whereas DDing gives you instant gratification so your mind is always more inclined to the quicker fix, its like a drug.

Hopefully you don't have this same problem with boredom but if you do there's my two cents. Cheers!

[escarei]

I think you need to do something you like, and something you find productive. Doing something else just for the shake of avoiding DDing is a bit pointless in my opinion. If you go running and you DD while you're doing it, it's actually better for your helath than sitting in a room and knitting 100 scarfs per year. (Well okay, you can sell those if they're pretty and good I guess... but you get what I'm trying to say.) 

Drawing intricate things, characters in detailed dresses, making codex like initials is good, because the repeated pattern generally helps me relax, and at the same time I'm focusing on the process. But because it works for me, it dosen't mean it would work for you too. You said you just moved in a new place, maybe you could search the internet for some lovely decorating ideas, to improve your roomspace to match your liking more?

If you want to do something creative, there are hundreds of things you could do, photography, scrapbooking etc. but it should be something you really enjoy. Search the Crafts tag on StumbleUpon, Craftgawker, Pinterest, MarthaStewart, Instructables, Lifehacker etc. and I'm sure you'll find something you would like to do! 

[Wish Upon A Wish]

With the painting I do, I don't paint my own creations (hopefully one day, but until then...) I print off a screenshot of a show (well, currently I've only done Anime-style, my one cartoon attempt didn't work out) and I trace it then paint it. I concentrate a lot on the painting so I can't properly DD.

Maybe though, you could learn (over time) to try and catch yourself in a DD while you're writing, and bring your brain back to the point- the fanfiction.