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Original poster

No direction sense... anyone else this bad and why??

155 replies

fastandthecurious1 · 06/03/2023 22:41

I've had this as far back as I can remember and frankly I'm tired of making excuses and laughing it off... I honest have zero direction sense while walking or driving I know many people say this but I am sure it's not this bad for everyone.

I have to google map my way around my city even the half I'm extremely familiar with in term if family living there etc... I'm great with house numbers and street names but you try and get me a landmark or to remember a layout and I simply don't it's all blank and it becomes guess work.

Indoors is the same I can't tell you how many times in new jobs I go to the toilet or to another area abs I can't find my way back with maybe only 2/3 turns. I've become very good at covering this so only really my husband knows the extent of it... he has very patiently tried to help and he is so naturally gifted with direction but it's impossible I still google map my way to my town centre as I sometime take wrong roads and multi story car parks... my goodness I take sneaky photos to help me if I'm alone and still takes 3/4 times to get any kind of bearings.

I could go on but I'm hoping I'm being clear... anyway else came across this level of issue?

I'll add I don't struggle with any other areas at all..

OP posts:
Trisolaris · 07/03/2023 16:28

Yep, very much a speed reader. The type to miss train stops if I’m absorbed in my book too.

TwistandSprout · 07/03/2023 16:47

hmmm familiar too!

Ormally · 07/03/2023 16:57

Yes. Dyspraxic also.

I do much better if there is something verbal, such as road names, or a landmark (even a weird one that may not be generally noted, like 'that houseplant with the cracked soil in the pot), to navigate by. Driving is usually fairly hopeless because I need the time to process things such as seeing and remembering the above, which isn't often at the speed of the road. Google maps was not a revelation, it always feels as if the onscreen view is not (ever) the right way up for where I am in relation to it, but the best maps I have found for reasonable use are the TFL ones on posts on some London streets.

I've even been known not to be able to find a building in a row of houses I have been to several times before, and panic can set in quite quickly if that happens.

GreenLampOfLove · 07/03/2023 17:49

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 07/03/2023 14:18

Anyone else had the cold feeling of dread when someone stops you to ask for directions?! I'm never quick enough to lie and say I'm not from around here, and as I struggle to tell them how to get somewhere I can see them glazing over and thinking I'm an idiot.

I'm an incredibly anxious driver (the sort that Mumsnet would say shouldn't be driving if I can't go to new places without panicking) and this thread has made me realise it's not the driving I'm afraid of, it's getting hopelessly lost.

Yes! One of my favourite memes says
'I sometimes wonder what happens to the people I give directions to' 😂

CandyLeBonBon · 07/03/2023 18:49

Blort · 07/03/2023 08:09

I'm the same! I have ADHD and definitely wouldn't meet criteria for dyslexia but I have a few symptoms of dyspraxia and dyscalculia. I also struggle with visual memory.

I have adhd as well. I can look at maps a million times but it doesn't stick! Weird huh! I'd love to feel like I have a compass in my brain. Makes me laugh when say an hmsays 'head southeast' and I'm like 'if I knew which way that was I wouldn't need you, google maps. Now shut up and tell me left, right or straight on - that at least I can manage!'

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 07/03/2023 20:41

Driving is usually fairly hopeless because I need the time to process things such as seeing and remembering

Yes! That's it exactly!

And I love the sound of that meme @GreenLampOfLove Grin

I've literally lived in the same small town my whole life, but if I have to get from one place to another and it's an unusual journey I really have to think about how to get there. Like if I often go from the center to the Dr's or the supermarket to the industrial estate, but one day I need to go from the Dr's to the industrial estate and I either spend ages trying different routes in my head or decide to wing it and end up going via the supermarket on a massive detour...

GreenLampOfLove · 08/03/2023 07:21

This one:

I like to think they found their way eventually 😊

No direction sense... anyone else this bad and why??
GreenLampOfLove · 08/03/2023 07:22

Oh and I have ADHD, which explains a lot.

Penguinsaregreat · 08/03/2023 07:29

Yes!!! I Am exactly the same. Only yesterday I got lost going to my ds’s house. I couldn’t even tell my dh. I ended up missing the turn off and am so disappointed with myself.
I just cannot picture how the 2 roads connect at all ( if that makes sense.) I haven’t read the full thread so will come back later to see if there are any tips.
I now find myself having to say in my head which wat I am turning when I go to the toilets in pubs/hotels etc.
I am thinking there is something wrong with me.

CandyLeBonBon · 08/03/2023 15:28

There are certain routes which, no matter how many times I do them, my internal map memory just gets wiped and I cannot for the life of me remember how to get there - it's like there's a black hole in my memory where this stuff should be. And I'm talking about regular journeys I do 2-3 times a week. I'd still be getting lost without google maps. It's so weird. The info just doesn't stick.

Curlygirl06 · 09/03/2023 19:49

Yep that's just like me. When the children were small, if we were going somewhere different they'd get pillows, snacks, drinks etc for the journey as they knew I'd get lost.

I get in a complete panic when I get lost, I accidentally found my step daughter's house (which normally I can't) when I was lost the other day, couldn't tell you how I got there and couldn't do it again.

I have no mental picture of what road leads where, I have to really think about local roads and I've lived here 40+years. Anywhere out of the area and I'm stuffed.

louderthan · 09/03/2023 21:04

I am the same. I am pretty sure I'm dyspraxic. I also can't throw, catch, learn any kind of dance routine however simple and have a lot of trouble understanding systems, sequences and formulae.

FlyingCapybara40 · 09/03/2023 21:27

I'm pretty bad but I can do better if I use landmarks . I do have a good memory for landmarks.But I have to pause and take note of them first. I get lost if I don't do that. I was in a hurry once and got lost in Truro Marks and Spencers!

struggle to read maps. I think I have some visual spatial defect. Other struggles for me include :

judging space between myself and others. I find myself standing too close without meaning to.

judging distance.

reading music was a struggle even though I could perform at a grade 8 level by my mid teens, the sight reading was a struggle

Numbers, timetables, money, anything to do with calculations

this one is really embarrassing but learning to tie shoelaces and bows

I really think the visual spatial and spatial awareness parts of my brain don't work properly!

FlyingCapybara40 · 09/03/2023 21:28

louderthan · 09/03/2023 21:04

I am the same. I am pretty sure I'm dyspraxic. I also can't throw, catch, learn any kind of dance routine however simple and have a lot of trouble understanding systems, sequences and formulae.

Wow, this is me also.

So it does have a name?

ShakeYourFeathers · 10/03/2023 14:56

Oh I can never find what I want in Truro M&S 😉 and the layout is confusing

In fact are we the same person, if not that makes two people in Cornwall who are like this

ShakeYourFeathers · 10/03/2023 14:56

Sorry that was for @FlyingCapybara40

Lessstressedhemum · 10/03/2023 15:04

Me, 100%. I get lost in shops. I go to the pictures and can't find my way back to my seat from the toilet. I can't go anywhere new on my own because the stress of it all gives me panic attacks. I can't follow oral directions and I really struggle to interpret Google maps etc.
I also have aphantasia, so I can't visualise anything.
On the plus side, I'm an expert at reading upside down.

Lessstressedhemum · 10/03/2023 15:05

Oh, and my proprioception is shocking.

DragonbornMum · 10/03/2023 15:15

I remember starting my first job at 17 and one of my shifts ended when I couldn't get a lift home. Work was 3-ish miles away from home along a straight duel carriageway. I'd lived there my whole life.

Yeah I got lost on the walk home 😂

eatdrinkandbemerry · 10/03/2023 15:29

Me I'm absolutely appalling at directions and get lost everywhere.
I seem to be worse in buildings and people always end up coming to find me as I take the wrong turning.
I can literally go to a hospital sit in a waiting room then follow the doctor down a small corridor but then can't retrace my exit.

PenguinMama · 10/03/2023 15:53

This is amazing to hear - good to know I'm not alone!! I have a shocking sense of direction (my parents used to joke I could get lost on a straight road!) but I'm good at reading maps and being able to retrace my steps.

I've been at my workplace for over 10 years, it's essentially a circle and I still struggle knowing which way to turn for the shorter route! Lucky I don't mind walking a bit more ...

I do find DH a bit magic when we're wondering around somewhere and he can just say head up here and we're back at the car or hotel. I'd have just ended up walking the whole route back!!

Delatron · 10/03/2023 16:21

This is me too. Though I’ve always had a good memory for words - did well at exams etc..

Ended up in many cupboards/ kitchens on the way back from the loo (thought it was just me!).

I use my car keys to find my car in car parks…

I lost my tent at a festival once when I came back from the toilet… for hours. In the end I just sat on the ground and cried. Then DH popped his head out of a tent a few feet away - completely perplexed by me.

xogossipgirlxo · 10/03/2023 16:24

Yep, this is me. I got used to it now, because I can't change it. Google maps is my friend.

louderthan · 10/03/2023 16:34

FlyingCapybara40 · 09/03/2023 21:27

I'm pretty bad but I can do better if I use landmarks . I do have a good memory for landmarks.But I have to pause and take note of them first. I get lost if I don't do that. I was in a hurry once and got lost in Truro Marks and Spencers!

struggle to read maps. I think I have some visual spatial defect. Other struggles for me include :

judging space between myself and others. I find myself standing too close without meaning to.

judging distance.

reading music was a struggle even though I could perform at a grade 8 level by my mid teens, the sight reading was a struggle

Numbers, timetables, money, anything to do with calculations

this one is really embarrassing but learning to tie shoelaces and bows

I really think the visual spatial and spatial awareness parts of my brain don't work properly!

Yes I never learned to read music! Played the piano fairly proficiently as a child but it was all by ear.
I can't read maps, even google maps on my phone I struggle as I can't figure out what way I need to go.

CurlewKate · 10/03/2023 16:47

I'm the same. What's worse is that the person I live with seems to be often able to find places he's never been before! And can always find places he's been to once. Do you have any trouble telling left from right? I do, and I was once told that my brain is unusual in that the left side controls the left of my body and the right the right. In most people it's the other way round. I have no idea whether this is true or has anything to do with sense of direction though!