Does anyone else have next to no sense of direction?

[ThePinkCushion]

It's so frustrating. I have almost no mental map of places in my head. Even places that I've been a hundred times I can still get lost when going there. I do have dyspraxia and I don't drive which is probably a good thing because I have enough trouble walking.

Can anyone else relate?

Not me, I’m okay with directions (but useless at many things don’t worry, I’m not being smug ) but SIL.
She doesn’t drive but has relied on a lift to work for the last 11 years. She asked me a few months ago to take her to work as it was earlier than buses and trains etc. She got in the car and I pulled away, got to the end of the road and I waited some directions. She looked at me blankly and fessed up that she had no idea how to actually get there - I have to admit that I was pretty confused, how can you literally go somewhere for about 250 days a year, same place daily except weekends and have precisely zero idea how you get there? I’m still baffled

Me too! Dh very irritatingly tells me it’s because I don’t have a Y chromosome Luckily he’s not serious he just enjoys saying it!

Yep this is me!

A return journey to me is basically an entire new journey as it looks different coming back.

I work in the community - I invariably get lost trying to get back. Been in the job 4 years and just starting to feel a little more confident. I am generally ok if the road is off a main road, it is when I need to go further into the estate that it all goes wrong. I had one visit where the instructions were 'Ring if you get lost' - I was onto a loser before I even started.

Me!!

I took a job about 20 miles from home and i was still using the satnav to drive there two months later, when my boss found out she said if i didnt get a grip and remember the route she would fail my probation

I also hate having to use the train or the tube , i find it so stressful and confusing

Does anyone else hate corridors with lots of doors? I never go out the right door when I leave

Totally me!!! And I never ever ever turn the right way in e.g. doctors office!! I get lost finding the car sometime in the car park!!!

I agree with everything that has been said. I have got lost in a bungalow. I can not find my car in car parks, or my table in a restaurant after going to the loo.

I find lanes on roundabouts tricky too. There is one journey that I have been on literally hundreds of times over my adult life, and not only do I still need the Sat Nav for it, I manage to get lost doing it too.

Has anyone found anything that helps? I spent a huge amount of money and many years of my life learning to drive, but after 10 years with a driving licence and my own car I am still too terrified to drive anywhere new. I would love to take my children on day trips, drive to visit my parents and not be terrified every time a party invitation or event necessitates driving anywhere unfamiliar.

Mum??? Is that you???

This is me. I get lost everywhere. In buildings. Carparks. Driving is a nightmare.

Has anyone found anything that helps?

Satnav.
Leave extra time to incorporate the getting lost part of the journey.
Try not to drive when you are hungry, tired or upset.
If it all goes horribly wrong: find somewhere to pull over, give yourself a 5 minute break, do some slow breathing and start from where you are.

I am glad that I am not the only one.
I have numerous qualifications and a professional job. However, I don’t have any sense of direction.
I can’t count the number of times I have ‘lost’ my car in a supermarket car park.
I can go to a place twenty times and still get lost,

I remember once when ds was small id gone to drop dss home and stopped at mcdonalds on the way home. Came off the bypass an exit too early and although i under normal circumstances would have (probably!) been able to work out my way home the road ahead was closed. I literally pulled over and cried down the phone to dp who directed me the rest of the way!

I have no sense of direction whatsoever. One holiday we stayed at a at a little house in the 'old town' of a Spanish resort; it was a bloody maze. Luckily my then 5 year old DD was with me to guide me back to the house!!

I have no idea at all about direction. I've sat and cried because I can't work out where I'm going in the car. My job involves me going quickly to all areas of 2 hospitals but I still get confused and look like a complete numpty. I can't work equipment if it involves using my hands. I'm left handed and everything seems awkward. I sound like a right idiot but I can remember what I've read and apply it.....

This is me. My ex would ask me if I remembered details about a place we visited years ago. And I'm "no, I've slept since then!" I hate trying to find places and in particular finding my way round buildings. My entire department at work is moving soon - aarghh.

ME!!!! Im totally crap. I can get lost even with a satnav. Im renowned for it in this family and an endless source of entertainment

Yup.
I run. I got really lost about 2 miles from home. I had to pretend I haven't lived here for 20 years when I asked for directions.

I have failed about 10 times to find my way when running a particular route the other way round. Just can't work it out.

Never once found my way first time to a friend's house before she moved abroad.

Another friend's house - I get so far and then always call for directions.

There's a 10k loop around the perimeter of UCLA campus. Went there for a conference about 5 times and never was able to work it out. Different job now so I won't go again.

When they do M25 travel news I frankly haven't got a clue whether I'm east or west or clock or anti-clockwise wise. I just hope for the best.

Oh yeah...car parks! Had to ask the attendant to help me. He did and I still couldn't find the car so had to go back and ask again.

I don't think i can even explain this, but i have a thing where in front of me always feels like north, behind me is south. If i turn left or right, then in my head I've turned a full 90 degrees. Everything feels like a straight line. My mind just can't cope with the reality of roads with curves and bends, streets not being parallel, the fact i might be heading east etc etc

Yes! Of course north is always directly in front and south is behind ... or it should be, if the world worked like it ought to do. And of course when one's turned around, it's a full 90 degrees ... I hear you. And this is partly why I struggle to drive anywhere unknown alone.

Yes, me! I don't know how to get to places 10 minutes away, even though I've lived here my whole life. If I go in to a shop, when I come out I can't remember which direction I was walking.

I've been watching The Good Place on Netflix, in one episode the character Chidy says he once got lost on an escalator, and was diagnosed with "directional insanity".

Finally, a name for it!

Yes! My people!

I once got lost in a (very small) tourist information centre for 45 minutes. I asked the same group of people for directions 3 times and was almost crying by the time I found my way out. I hate going to the toilet in restaurants or bars because I can't find my way back. Many nights out back in the day were spent wandering around multiple levels of a nightclub after I'd foolishly gone to the bar/bathroom alone, wondering if I'd ever see my friends again.

I do drive, and have a good memory and mind's eye in other respects, just no spatial awareness or sense of direction.

My 17 yr old. Absolutely hopeless! When shes on the college bus and im waiting to pick her up, ill text her to ask where they are. She’ll say the town name. But which side of town? Supermarket? Any other landmarks? “Don’t know” is what I get. Being in the other side can mean 20-30 mins away due to traffic.

She’s learning to drive and i tell her it’s important to know whete you are should something happen to her.

But at 17 she has other thing to think of!

I'm a bit too good at orientating myself: even before we had maps on phones, I would only occasionally look at a map when visiting somewhere new, and I'd be most unlikely to need it for the way back. I love the thrill of going into an unknown road or place, and then coming out somewhere I recognise. I also love getting lost in mazes.

My DH likes to surprise me on occasions such as my birthday by driving me to a mystery destination, but he has to work hard to make me lose my bearings. Even if I'm blindfolded so I can't see where we're going, I can often guess with surprising accuracy.

My mum has a good sense of direction and if i ask her for directions she gives me really clear ones to places she has only been a few times. Sadly dd has inherited my lack of ability in this area and even her friends watch out for her as she has been known to get lost at school. Luckily she lives in the age of Google maps with Sat nav on her phone so she is able to get about.

I'm the same and my parents are 10 x worse than me.