Do we daydream excessively because reality is too boring?

[LeAnn Marcum]

 I remember in 7th grade, I craved adventure. I began to live in my head the fantasies of being my favorite anime character and trying to think of how I could somehow make it a reality. So I was just wondering. Do we constantly play pretend because reality isn't fulfilling us? Like a hole that only the illusion of living in our dreams can fill?

[Lydia Rauch]

I'm sure that many people do. I was daydreaming at a very, very young age, always craving to be in those movies where cool people go to cool places and do cool things. I would always mix up the plot to include me in this giant spotlight because that is where I craved to belong.

Nowadays, I usually don't daydream about myself, but rather of the books I write, shaping each character to perfection, envisioning picturesque plotlines, etc. Still, the theme remains of the action, the adventure, the heavy emotion that I just wish was possible in real life. It's an alternate world where everything is better.

Once you have created a world that is better than your own, it is excruciatingly difficult to let it go. That is probably why we are excessive daydreamers. Why go back to that world when we have created something better?

[SwanInTheWater]

Maybe it's that way for some of us. For me, however, I started daydreaming when I was three or four and I used to have loads of fun at that age.
Actually I am someone who is very easily amused and have only felt bored when I had an episode of depression coming on. Sometimes I am reading a great book and a sentence will trigger a daydream, so it isn't about being bored in my case.

I will say though that there was one point in my life when I was not amused as easily. It was in 5-8 th grade. I had problems and something was lacking in my life and that is when I created my own group of friends. To help me live it out even better, I started telling my real life friends about my daydream ones, only I made them think they were real. But that is another thing entirely.

[Gina Black]

Story of my life, LeAnn!!

I'm a self-taught, passionate reader since the age of 3. Fairytales was the only interesting thing in my over-protected life, that's why I learned to read so soon. I didn't even play with dolls, as most little girls, I just sat there with a book from day to night. Which kept going on for years, as life was either too boring (home) of too ugly (school) for me. Imaginary worlds were so much more interesting! 

But, in the end, I forgot how I could make my own life interesting by being more active and responsible...I had dumped all the responsibility for my happiness on some imaginary people. Which is why DD ended up being such a sad, addictive situation.

[otakugirl]

Sadly I do it because I find this world boring.

[yari]

I think any healthy individual would day dream once in a while as a response to our not so great reality.

[Larry Baer]

I think that is a big factor of day dreaming when I was in school sitting near a window I would look out the window and daydream constantly of course the teacher would try to get my attention and I would listen for about 10 minutes and go right back daydreaming. 

[Lady Tuesday]

I think that's the very reason I daydream all the time.  Cuz real life has gotten boring and I'm left unfulfilled at the end of the day.  I know that when I'm doing something fun or new or exciting, I'm not daydreaming as much/at all.  But when I'm doing mundane tasks like walking down a hallway, I'll start doing it again.  What really sucks is when I start on a new story in my head and I get really  into it.  And then something exciting in real life happens (like going to a concert), but I'm so addicted to the new story that I'm left feeling conflicted.  Which world should I focus on more?  What's going on in real life, or my newly created storyline?  Most of the time, I'll tell myself to focus on reality, cuz you can always save your daydreams for later right?  But I usually end up doing half:half cuz the new storyline was just too good to resist.  And then, of course I regret not having 100% of my attention on reality, cuz THEN, and only then, do I feel like I missed out on life.

[charm]

For me its not that reality is too boring, just that it moves too slow. I like to cut straight to the good bits

[Steve C]

I don't think I DD because I'm bored alone. I say this because sometimes I can't decide what to DD on (due to DD'ing the same things over and over), and end up wasting a hour without actually DD'ing about anything in-depth. So, if I don't have something to DD about then I waste time trying to find something...seems pretty boring to me.

[Wish Upon A Wish]

I think there's different reasons for each person, but I think part of the reason I started was because I read a heap, and was really shy, and anything in my social life was never as good as what was in the books (because, you know, they're written and re-written and edited, so they have time to be perfected and, well, life isn't.) And I think starting the daydreams may have also made reality seem even less fulfilling for me...

Plus, my old shrink said I also use it as an avoidance technique. Oh, how right she was.