Only recently have I discovered that there is a name for this mental condition I live in is Excessive Daydreaming. For some scholars, it is seen as a mental disorder, but it is not officially as it is a relatively new diagnosis and they are still doing research in psychiatry. Some professionals have never even heard of it, but the truth is that it exists.
Excessive daydreaming is when you can spend hours imagining possibilities; imagining how you would like your life to be. But it's not just a momentary imagination, it's like you could devote hours of your day to it.
When you have this condition, you really live and feel intensely everything you imagine, it feels like real life... But it's not, and anyone who suffers from excessive daydreams knows that. Unlike schizophrenia, where a person does not know what is an illusion and what is real, the person who has excessive daydreams knows exactly what is real but still chooses to delight in illusions.
Illusions promote happiness, horny, genuine joy… Until we stop imagining, and what follows is a little tiredness and sadness, sometimes frustration.
What differentiates a person who has excessive daydreams from a person who only likes to imagine, is that daydreams come to disrupt the person's real life; you can't study, you can't work well, and worst of all: you can't live in the present. You can be in an amazing place like a beach with a splendid landscape, or a restaurant eating the best food you've ever eaten in your life and at the same time, mentally, you're not there, you're imagining life differently...
... It's sad. And I've struggled with this for many years. But only a few days ago I discovered the name of this condition. Nowadays I can say that I'm much better because I can stop, I can concentrate, and not get carried away by the daydream… But a few years ago, it was just impossible for me to be happy without living in my imagination.
Of course, there are many triggers for this to still happen to me, but I learned to avoid them over time. For example, when I listen to music through headphones and go jogging or cycling, or when I listen to music on the bus, or when I've had a stressful day and lie down for a few moments, my mind just float in direction to a perfect world, where I imagine the best things that could happen in my life… I let myself go for a few moments until I feel totally relaxed, then I'll be back before it's too late. I know if stay there for so much time when gone, when it's over, I'll be frustrated. It is like a drug.
Yesterday I went out drinking with a friend, and while we were drinking and talking I confessed to her that I had excessive daydreams, to my surprise she said 'Oh my God, me too! I even talk to myself, and even gesture in my daydreams!” I was very surprised and we laughed a lot at the coincidence.
We ended the conversation about this by questioning whether we are like that because we are both Scorpio. lol
Well, I don't know, but I think it's common to have excessive daydreams… Maybe more people around me do, but no one has the courage to talk about it, after all, it's kind of insane, isn't it?
