My First Post - MD and Acting

[Morgan Decker]

Hi, everyone!!  This is my first post on here so, for anyone who cares, feel free to read on. 

     My name is Morgan and I've just recently joined you guys on Wild Minds.  I have been suffering from MD my whole life but didn't find out about MD itself or what it was until about a year and a half ago when I finally confronted my family about my problem and they found me some resources as to what it may be.  When I was a young child I felt extremely socially awkward, isolated and like I couldn't connect with many of my peers.  I always knew I was different somehow and didn't understand why which caused me to not have very many friends.  Even though I do, beyond a shadow of a doubt, suffer from MD, I believe that my case is not as severe as some others out there may be.  Meaning that even though I still find it difficult to get tasks completed, I can still daydream for hours at a time, I still have many triggers and my daydreams are riveting and intricate, it doesn't seem to affect my relationships as much as it does other MD sufferers.  I am still able to have and maintain close friendships and relationships with those that I love and my parents are very supportive but only 1 of my friends knows.  However, with that being said, it still has a huge effect on my life. 

     I've known I had a problem ever since I was a child though I may not have known what it was.  I have always been fantasy prone.  The daydreams I had when I was a child mainly consisted of me daydreaming to be the characters I saw on TV and in the movies.  I would daydream for hours and even days at a time of myself being those different characters.  I even used to get in trouble when I was in elementary schooll because I would go into the bathroom and stay there for entire class periods while I full blown acted out these daydream fantasies I had.  But these same daydreams that caused havoc in my mind and affected my abilities to get things done and sometimes were a curse, turned out to be the most tremendous blessing I could have ever recieved. 

     These same movies and TV shows that served as triggers for my MD, sparked my love and passion for acting at a very early age.  As I watched these actors on my TV screen, daydreaming and pretending to be them was never enough.  I wanted to be just like them.  It was what I longed for more than life itself- to be able to act and be those people I watched all the time and to really be those characters.  Because of this epiphony, I have been acting since I was 8 years old and I will never stop.  I have been in dozens of musicals and plays and will be going to college as an Acting major in the fall.  I truly believe that having MD has played a very important part in shaping me into the actor I am today.  The key to acting is that you have to believe you are that character in that situation at that time.  You have to believe yourself into that imaginary circumstance.  I sincerely believe that my being fantasy prone and being able to create intricate plot lines, characters and scenarios in my head and connect with them has had a profound efffect on me being able to believe myself into another character's shoes and into an imaginary circumstance therefore shaping my ability to act.  Without MD, I don't think I would be the actor I am today.  MD helped me fully ignite my passion I had for acting from the very beginning and helped me shape my abilities as an actor in order to make my childhood dream possible.  Acting is my true passion, it's my life; I love it and I need it like I do oxygen and, without MD, I may not have even had any acting ability.  So, as much of a pain and a frustration that MD can be for me sometimes, I would never want to go a day without it, just as I would never want to go a day without acting in my life.  MD and the ability to act are by far some of my most tremendous blessings and I could never be more thankful. 

[Emily]

First off, welcome! :D I'm Emily, nice to meet you! It sounds like we have similar daydreams and triggers, and nice to hear you're able to use daydreaming to help you in life.

I get what you mean when you say that acting has a lot to do with believing you are the character. Right now, in my "Ideal Now" dd, my family/friends (all of which don't exist in real life, to be clear) are performers. I act out my daydreams which involve me... well, acting :P The only reason I don't get into acting is because I'm not very comfortable around other people, and couldn't do it without my "family". I applaud your ability to get up in front of people and act!

Just as cool, it sounds like you have a supporting family. That's always good. We don't have enough loved ones supporting people on here, so it's always a pleasure to hear they're helping you :)

Again, welcome to Wild Minds, and I hope to chat with you soon!