Uncategorized February 9, 2017
Daydreaming is great. It improves creativity, can sometimes boost productivity and is associated with an adept working memory. However, sometimes it can be used as a tool to escape reality and detracts from focus.
In 2002 Eli Sómer coined the term maladaptive daydreaming, which involves extensive worlds and fantasies that cause people to miss minutes, hours or days caught up in their fantasies.
When daydreaming starts to hinder your productivity and is preferable to real life, then it’s time to address it. Here are five signs you’re spending too much time with your head in the clouds.
Life is stressful, scary and hard. Sometimes it’s useful to have a “happy place” that you can pull up when you get anxious, but if you find yourself escaping to your mind and never resurfacing, you’re not enabling yourself to deal with the problem at hand and put an end to the stress.
Instead, try taking a moment to breathe and calm yourself down, then think about the problem and ways to fix it. You’ll feel more confident after you’ve fixed the problem and you’ll increase your capabilities of handling stress in the future.
Books are the best, it’s great to read about new ideas, far away, people and places, and elaborate worlds. Books of all types make a great escape from the humdrum of everyday life, but they aren’t the most social activity. Sometimes it’s okay to be antisocial and to want to escape with a good book. However, if you find yourself using books to avoid your surroundings, or to avoid having to interact with people, then maybe you need to take a break.
Put down the book every once in a while when you find yourself on the bus or at a café, and take in your surroundings, people watch or maybe even strike up a conversation with the stranger next to you. You’re capable of living a story just as interesting as the one buried between those pages.
It’s good to think about the future, and what you want your life to look like. It helps you determine your goals. It’s also easy to get caught up in wedding Pinterest boards and fantasies of being a high powered CEO living in a storybook castle in Scotland with a giant “Beauty in the Beast” style library. Make sure you come back to the present so that you can accomplish those dreams and make them happen.
Daydreaming is a fun way to pass the time when you’re bored, but if you’re so caught up in your fantasy that your missing your bus stop or not listening to your boss, it’s time to take a step back and pay attention.Try finding something interesting about what’s going on in the present, count the streets until your bus stop, focus on what your boss is saying because the new project you’re working on is valuable to your individual growth. Being present and alert is sometimes much more entertaining than day dreaming.
Did the latest episode of “Game of Thrones” leave you bored? Did you opt out of seeing your favorite band play because their last concert was that disappointing? It’s possible that your fantasies are creating expectations that are too high.
Having high expectations is good, but it’s also important to be realistic. Not everything can be a 24/7 fireworks show. Don’t diss your job just because it’s not the high-powered fashion magazine job you’ve always dreamed of. Don’t discount that guy that asked you out just because he looks nothing like Brad Pitt.
Reality isn’t always as glamorous as our fantasies but it’s often more rewarding, and if you pay attention you’re likely to find it even more interesting than anything you could have dreamed.
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