When do I know that I have to stop dreaming?

[Mauricio]

Hello my name is Mauricio, I’m 20 years old and I live in Mexico City; recently I joined this group for the purpose to tell someone a little bit of my daily problem. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I discovered that one of my addictions was Maladaptive Daydreaming, or at least I think my personal problem is related to it. It has been 8 years that I have accepted the idea that I must reached a goal that I am not sure if it is to far away of reality or not, so my entire life depends on it, because if it wasn't for this goal I surely would be thinking badly about my existence in life. I know it sounds weird or exaggerated, but as some of you may or may not know, as I daydream I start to thinks about the things in my surroundings and in a life that only exist in tv series, games or animes, a place where it seems that life is more interesting or exciting, but most importantly it seems different that our real world; which in reality is hard and, in my personal opinion, a little bit repetitive, and that really bothers me, to the point that it stressed me a lot and, in a sense, it makes me feel trapped. So thats why, when I was 14 years old, that I decided to study Physics, in order to find answers of what could make a real change and try to turn my dream into something that touches the real world. My entire life depends on those answers, but I am sure that I would dedicate my entire life to find them. But thats a HUGE dream, so I never stopped thinking of those fantasy realities and questioning myself about: What if my dream is to far from reality? Am I dreaming to much, to the point that I have lied myself to believed that I could achieve my purpose? Am I not taking to seriously the meaning of those fantasy worlds, that impulsed me to continue my search? 

I know that I have a problem, because when I saw my backstory I only saw many moments of sadness and loneliness, and in certain moments I cannot hold myself, and I start to cry and I feel sad and beaten, feeling stupid for not working enough, for not being smart enough, for forcing myself to take to seriously my dreams, in a way that I isolated myself from others without me noticing! I have told three persons about these thoughts of mine, and I thought that they were really my friends, but at the end, the three of them just after the moment I told them, they decide to stop taking to me, and I think that I scared them with that. Who would like a friend that have such big problems, it might appeared that I am crazy… Now, I just have one friend (a good one, but it has been the only one in my entire life!, and I have not told him about this, but I know he already knows, but he tries helps me with what he can.) I tried to change, in order to live more, but I cannot stop thinking about those dreams, when do I know that I have to stop dreaming?…

[Silver Swan]

As early as you can. Day dreaming is an addiction that takes us into fantasy realms that look and sound majestic, but it sweeps you away from a great and fulfilling life of love, success and friendship. I was a victim of this. I awoke at 30 and face a life of loneliness. MD is going to hypnotize you.

[Paul Rapp]

I don't think that stopping is entirely necessary, but it does need to be controlled. Distraction with something else that will require your focus will help. Avoidance of triggers, if possible, but you may not be able to avoid all of your triggers. Strive for reduction rather than elimination. If you find that you are unable to do that and that daydreaming is a truly addictive behavior for you, then you may need to think about stopping altogether. For that I have no suggestion, as stopping altogether is not something that I have ever even tried to do.