Dealing with the adult world

[Drake]

Throughout my entire childhood I obsessively daydreamed. I didn't have that happy of an adolescence and I always daydreamed about one day being taken away from the real world and having fantastic adventures like I do in my daydreams. I always pushed myself forward with the hope that one day something amazing would happen to me.

As an adult, I have now discounted that possibility, and it's hard. The realization that none of my daydreams will ever come true, that I will never be able to be a hero and see amazing worlds and places. That's hard to deal with, and I feel like I'm not adequately equipped to deal with the adult world.

Does anybody else share this feeling?

[Willie Coyote]

All too often, and it's tough. I certainly don't want to give up the joys I've experienced daydreaming just to "fit in" though (if that's even possible at this point). It's not much, but: I try and use "the hero" as a role model, while they might live in a different world, they inspire me to be the best I can be. Maybe that helps?

[Drake]

I have no doubt that I will never fully have the ability to function in the adult world. It's hard to stay upbeat when you get beaten down by the facts of reality every day while it seems like everybody else just easily floats through life.

[Tinkerbell]

No.  For me my MD is a coping mechanism, whenever things become quite stressful for me it just blows out of proportion.  

[Drake]

yep I've always felt extremely different from everyone else. my past wasn't so good either because I was relentlessly bullied for years. what sucked was finding out that I didn't get a reward for going through all that, just more crap.

MatthewR said:

Out of curiosity, do you feel stuck in the past? As a child, I remember feeling very different from everyone else. It's a strange feeling that's persisted for much of my life. I'm not entirely sure where i went wrong, but I feel very, very alienated from the people around me. 

[The1andonlyAbber]

I feel EXACTLY the same way right now. In my daydreams I'm not a human, because all my life I've never felt like a human. It's actually starting to concern me. I don't know exactly what being of the human species SHOULD feel like, but I know it certainly doesn't feel like the way I've always felt. I've always been...different. Maybe that's why I thought that I was destined to be the hero that would save everybody or whatever.

[Rae]

I definitely feel like I have no place in this world, I have always felt different

[jey]

The realization that none of my daydreams will ever come true, that I will never be able to be a hero and see amazing worlds and places. That's hard to deal with, and I feel like I'm not adequately equipped to deal with the adult world.

Yeah, I totally get this. 

But I think that having that realization, and then deciding to deal with it anyway, and to stay optimistic about life, that's what makes you heroic. Especially so if/when everyone around you lets it become a reason to feel powerless and hopeless. Trust me that other people are not floating through life, no matter how much they act like it.

One thing we have and they maybe don't is our dreaming.  You actually DO get to go to other worlds and do heroic things. Not everyone can imagine like that.

[Rosethewolf]

I feel like this too. I al a college student who could care less about having a boring career and i just want to have fun. I don't like the adult world, filled with lies, hurt, and crazy people but also it is very very boring.

I would reather not deal with the adult world or reality but that is the world we truly live in so we have to adapt.

[The1andonlyAbber]

About what I said about not fitting in: I'm starting to notice that a recurring theme in my daydreams is having to live in the world of "normal people", yet having access to a world where everyone acts like me, and the weird things I do are considered good manners.

[The1andonlyAbber]

My advice to you: if you think that you'll never fit in, STOP TRYING! (to a reasonable degree)

I stopped trying to be like everyone else a long time ago. I wear whatever I feel like wearing instead of the latest fad. I have this account instead of a Vine, Twitter, or whatever the other kids are spamming each other on these days. I actually study instead of compulsively checking my phone. I haven't taken a single selfie this year. I sleep instead of texting people at 2 in the morning. I kill time by daydreaming instead of browsing through social media.

I've decided not to conform to what society wants me to be. I'm free. That's one good thing about all this.

[The1andonlyAbber]

Perhaps feeling different is the result of being bullied. Then again, how do bullies pick their targets? They choose the kid that is different.

There's just...something about us...

[goner]

Yes! A thousand times yes!

I think about this everyday, actually. You're not alone.

I still believe that something extraordinary will happen, though, and hate thinking about having a "normal" life.