Do other people have quiet times in their head or is their brain always talking?

[Smallsteps88]

Do you ever have silence in your head? I never do. My head voice is constantly talking. Shite mostly. It often interrupts conversations I’m having with people and I have to concentrate really hard to “hear”what the other person is saying. I really wish I could switch it off sometimes. I take hours to fall asleep every night because my brain is still going. Is that what everyone else has or do you have quiet sometimes?

Mine is constant, OP. I try to quiet it through the regular practice of meditation, but it rarely shuts off for more than a few seconds even when I'm really concentrating as hard as I can. I just try to note the voice and then go back to the meditation, but it's bloody annoying!

I do yoga and really hate that I can’t get any calming/spiritual benefit from it. My mind just won’t let me. I persevere with the classes for the physical aspect but I would truly love to be able to fully immerse myself in the classes.

@BogRollBOGOF

I woke DH up with dream sound effects last weekend. At least I wasn't miaowing this time...

DS as referred to upthread has diagnoses of ASD and dyspraxia.
I seriously wonder about dyspraxia for me. For so many reasons.

I have a bank of songs in my head to pull out if some random earworm is too annoying. Anything random can normally activate a song from my mental archive.

Random thoughts through my head distract me from my intentions. The DCs get muddled up easily because I'll say the last name that came into my head. I'm frequently in the wrong room because of being diverted by an observation in passing. I can't cope with tidying techniques like tidy as you go, or always take something up/ down with you because then I end up down a rabbit hole and never achieve the original function.

That last paragraph sounds very much like someone with ADHD. Distracted and can't finish things. Lots of half finished jobs.

@MissDoLots it’s more like oh yeah must empty the dishwasher - oh but dd’s lunchbox is in there, what will be for lunch the coming week? Chicken wraps? Oh but she’ll be sick of them by Tuesday. Soup? Oh but is the flask keeping the soup warm enough? Is the roll I bake and butter for her gone soggy when she goes to eat it? Jesus, is she eating her fruit first? Is she drinking her water? Is ds getting enough fruit/veg/protein ratio in crèche? Am I getting enough? Will we all have rickets?

Isn't this just normal, isn't this just thought!?

Yes, I know I should seek help 😂 @Smallsteps88 I feel your pain. My mind doesn’t stop.

Isn't this just normal, isn't this just thought?

Anything random can normally activate a song from my mental archive.

Ahh!! My DC get pissed off with me always singing song lyrics in response to and inspired by whatever they’ve just said. I’m very annoying.

@Peacenquiet2

Isn't this just normal, isn't this just thought?

That’s what I’m Trying to find out

[quote Montyman]@MissDoLots it’s more like oh yeah must empty the dishwasher - oh but dd’s lunchbox is in there, what will be for lunch the coming week? Chicken wraps? Oh but she’ll be sick of them by Tuesday. Soup? Oh but is the flask keeping the soup warm enough? Is the roll I bake and butter for her gone soggy when she goes to eat it? Jesus, is she eating her fruit first? Is she drinking her water? Is ds getting enough fruit/veg/protein ratio in crèche? Am I getting enough? Will we all have rickets?[/quote]
Yep. All of this. All the time.

Also never finish anything. Ever.

My brain only thinks about things I want it to. I don't 'hear' voices but rather sense them. I do day dream.
If I was going down stairs to get a drink (for example) I might say to myself on the way down the stairs that I may as well empty the dish washer while in down there... but I suspect this isn't what you mean ?

This blows my mind. I pretty much can't force my brain to think about a specific thing unless there are immediate repercussions to not thinking about it like I'm in an exam or preparing for a meeting. For everything else I stack up things that I need to think about and go with the flow of whatever my mind latches on to, basically trusting that as something gets urgent the repercussions will kick in and I'll find the focus.

Luckily my job throws enough interesting problems and tight deadlines at me that my brain can bounce between focus items and still be doing something useful (although I have had to install a mumsnet blocker since WFH)

And I also often realise I'm counting my steps. I had to start listening to audio books when I run because the step counting was really annoying me and also making the time go really slow.

@MissDoLots

I don't really understand this. Do you hear voices or is it just when you think about things.

My brain only thinks about things I want it to. I don't 'hear' voices but rather sense them. I do day dream.

If I was going down stairs to get a drink (for example) I might say to myself on the way down the stairs that I may as well empty the dish washer while in down there... but I suspect this isn't what you mean ?

So you never get intrusive thoughts tho? So I'll walk down the road and think imagine if that lorry veered and him me, I'd pull the pram to the side and it would just be me (categorically not suicidal) and then I'd imagine the conversation of DH with MIL about why they aren't moving in and my sister demanding shared custody. Then I'll realise I'm thinking about this and I've missed my turning or forgot to go to the shop.

Never. Ever. Quiet.

Yes, chuntering, babbling, observational commentary, preemptive arguments and ‘oh look squirrel’, always always music running at same time. Turns out I have ADHD.

[quote Montyman]@MissDoLots it’s more like oh yeah must empty the dishwasher - oh but dd’s lunchbox is in there, what will be for lunch the coming week? Chicken wraps? Oh but she’ll be sick of them by Tuesday. Soup? Oh but is the flask keeping the soup warm enough? Is the roll I bake and butter for her gone soggy when she goes to eat it? Jesus, is she eating her fruit first? Is she drinking her water? Is ds getting enough fruit/veg/protein ratio in crèche? Am I getting enough? Will we all have rickets?[/quote]
Exactly this! I do have ADHD though.

Oh god and I’ve just remembered my imaginary medieval girl! When I was a kid there was a story in Bunty or something about a medieval girl who turned up in the twentieth century and a modern girl who had to explain everything to her and keep her out of trouble. For some reason that stuck in my mind and some part of my brain has spent the last 40 years on and off thinking how I’d explain whatever I’m currently doing to an imaginary medieval girl.

@Blibbyblobby that’s fantastic!

I’ve often found myself wondering how I’d explain things to Uhtred from the last kingdom in case he randomly gets into a time machine and lands in my garden

@Smallsteps88

No way! That's amazing! We should join forces and write a guide book for historical travellers to the twenty-first century

Very active brain here. Especially at night!
Even in my dreams I'm busy all night, sometimes I'll dream the same song for what feels like all night and wake up utterly exhausted.

My brain is like a mad crazy conversation going on all of the time with everything and everyone. I find listening to music helps.

Me too. Which is why I'm still bloody wide awake. Never even considered a link to ADHD.
An old work colleague used to call me Ally McBeal because she imagined me seeing random shite and having my own soundtrack. Which I do.

Maladaptive daydreamer here too. My brain never stops. I have a million-page novel (or is it a film?) running inside my head my whole life long, plus I talk to myself too. I can spend a whole day being deeply emotionally upset over something completely imaginary that happened inside my mind

If you watch star trek, I think of it like a holodeck. Load up a programme and step into whichever world you want at that moment.
It's amazing what the brain can do.

I talk constantly to myself in my head. It's like I can hear it without saying it but if I'm alone I do talk out loud too.

Sometimes conversations I'm playing out between me and someone else that I haven't had yet.

Me too, I hope it's normal

When I go us in on a TV program I just sort of switch off thinking about stuff. In the summer I lie in garden sun bathing and don't think of anything.

It's generally quiet. Only occasionally, when I'm anxious over something, do I have talky thoughts or intrusive thoughts. I associate it with anxiety.

Don't have an internal monologue. Sometimes music is playing.

Shalom 👏

I sympathize OP, I go through phases when I can't sleep because of it. I'm on progesterone now and it knocks me out, but otherwise I sleep in my headphones because of it. I have a manual job and I have to be listening to something otherwise my mind will start wandering in a bad way. Sometimes I shout SHUT UP! or have DH moon me, it seems to lighten the mood and help me snap out of it :)
I also use a meditation app, hoping to train my mind not to take over.