to wonder if you live in a fantasy world?

[WalterMittyish]

NC-ed cos this is maybe a bit of a weird wondering.

I was reading the thread about weird things that you do, and it emboldened me to ask something I've ALWAYS wondered: how much of an escapist, inner 'fantasy world' do you have?

Ever since I as a child I've lived two lives ~ the day to day one, and the one in my head where everything is different. Sometimes I'm a famous singer / actor / writer, etc. Sometimes I'm married to/'involved' with someone famous. But as I'm going about my day to day business there's 'dual' versions of me doing any particular task, if that makes sense?

Am I the only one? Or are we all Walter Mittys, to a greater or lesser degree?

[hashbrownnofilter]

I defintely do it. I always thought I was the only one. . Mine is less chapters than an evolution, moving the story on each night. Then when it hits a critical mass, new fantasy time.

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

Yes I do. Mine started as a kid thinking about the kind of adult id be. I still do it even though I am an adult now.
She's pretty much opposite to me though short blond hair, well manicured, groomed, expensive clothes that fit v well. Thin and elegant, taller, does things with grace and power. She has children but she breezes through life.

She doesn't seem to have a social conscience though. I reckon she'd vote Tory.

[CruCru]

I do this, I assumed everyone did it.

[whois]

I have wondered if it might be symptomatic of depression or something. I'm fairly content with my day to day life....I don't have much I need to 'escape' from.

I don't think so. I'm happy in my life and have always had a few dreams going on as far back as I can remember.

[whois]

Actually I kind of remember when I started running through alternate realities in great detail - I was about 8 and on holiday with my parents and it involved lots of long car journeys. No DVDs back in the day, and no sibling to talk to, so it was a way to 'zone out' for a bit.

[SaucyJack]

Yes, most definitely.

I have long-standing feuds running with people I've never actually met.

I'm also a hero in my local community for various acts.

Quite hard keeping up with reality sometimes.

[GobblersKnob]

I've always done this, keeps me sane

[VolumniaDedlock]

I do this, really helps me get off to sleep

My current other life involves being an artist who paints landscapes while living in a Cornish cliff top cottage. In real life, I am a strictly practical person who prefers an urban environment. I've never even been to Cornwall, and every time DH suggests going I insist we stick to N. Yorks or Wales . Although in my current other life Tristram Hunt is my DH, returning from parliament at the weekends, and that bit's ok by me.

[ErinBlockerBitch]

Yes, especially on the bus.

[balletnotlacrosse]

Yes, I often slip into a different world where I'm living a rather different life from my actual one. Keeps me sane and happy when life is a bit dreary or dull or miserable.

[LadyCuntingtonThe3rd]

I win euro millions every day in my head.

I don't think it's bad though. Just something to wish while dealing with everyday difficult decisions.

[irretating]

fanfiction.net is full of people who have very active fantasy lives. I'd say you're not alone

I must say I'm partial to a bit of fantasising about life in Discworld, Susan Sto Helit is my bestie.

[Batmansunderpants]

I have always done this. I have to monitor how often I do this as I tend to escape reality and not want to return, meaning I'm unhappy with my usually fulfilling life.

I also tend to isolate myself as I would rather be alone in my fantasies than with others. I listen to audio books now as it stops my mind from drifting away, and creating fantasies which impact on my real relationships.

[RumbleMum]

Glad it's not just me. I've been up to it since I was first at school - it was definitely a reaction to being a loner and not being terribly well liked. I don't do it so much now I'm very happy with my life but it's still there. Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer but with more sex and swords, and a WAY more complicated story that conveniently gets changed every time I have a crush on someone off the telly ....

[CornChips]

I do too, also when I fall asleep or have insomnia. I did it all through my school years as was a loner also. I was actually the daughter of Russian sleeper spies then. :)

[crazykat]

I do this too, especially when I'm running or on the way to pick the kids up so have time to let my mind wander. I thought I was slightly strange but I'm glad I'm not alone. I've got all sorts of fantasy lives which are mostly inspired by books I've read.

[shovetheholly]

I used to set a lot of goals when I was younger, and drive myself towards them. A lot of the time, these were visualistions - I would imagine myself succeeding at something I really wanted to do well at. And it really helped to drive me on, and I did succeed at everything I set my imagination to.

As I've become older, I've had some challenges to deal with and I have lost direction and drive along with my self-confidence. I find myself lapsing into fantasy on a very occasional basis (once every month or so) in a way that feels quite similar to the more driven goal-setting of my youth, but that doesn't ever lead to increased self-confidence or more positive results. I know that if I can turn it around again, and believe in my ability to achieve those mental images in my head, it could be a profoundly transformative thing in terms of finding motivation and getting over my fears and anxieties, which keep me stuck in a rut. So I am working with a counsellor to do precisely that.

So I am not sure fantasy is always an unhealthy tool - just that it can become so if used to excess and in a non-directed way.

[Gruntfuttock]

BestZebbie "I don't daydream like in the OP - but I do LARP, which means physically visiting actual fantasy world(s)"

How on earth can you physically visit "actual fantasy world(s)" That's surely a contradiction in terms. If it's a fantasy world, you can't physically visit it.

Anyway, with ref. to the OP, I have never done this and like a PP said, I wouldn't know where to start. I'm astonished by the replies on this thread.

[Ludways]

I don't do fantasy, but I do live in the past a lot, till my mid twenties I lived a fantasy life but something happened mid twenties and it changed. I pine for my life back then, I'm 48 and I really need to stop, I'm wasting my life!

[aliasjoey]

Yes I do, although not usually with celebrities.

There's one where I'm the survivor of a global apocalypse, and after a while I discover a group of other survivors and lo! an ex-boyfriend is one of them, and he has to save me or vice versa whilst leading the group to safety... various sub-plots involve getting stuck with him in a shelter during a rain-storm, him saving me from a rabid dog, or from being raped by a crazy neo-Nazi; or being carried to safety as I succumb to a dreadful fever in a world without doctors or antibiotics...

I've also got a new one running, based on the ITV drama 'Home Fires' in which I'm the girl who just got married, except in my version she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and the boyfriend has disappeared into the army and she/I don't even know she's pregnant because this is the '30s and she's incredibly naive...

[SilverNightFairy]

SaucyJack, now you are just freaking me out! In my mind, I have foiled terrorists, been a bounty hunter and am involved in a rather nasty Twitter battle with Kanye West. I just thought all this was due to being a social worker.

[Jjou]

Yep, I do this and have done all my life. I just have another narrative going on in my head all the time where I'm a singer/painter/sports star/actor etc. and all featuring famous people or ones I've made up. In these stories I'm always the best version of myself and amazingly good at whatever I'm pursuing! When I get bored with 1 scenario I just draw a line under it and start another from scratch.

Nobody in real life knows I do this as there's no way to explain it without sounding like a weirdo. And once I've said it out loud it won't be mine anymore and it would ruin it. On the plus side I'm never bored and perfectly content to just be - I can sit with my own thoughts for hours.

There's nothing I need to escape from particularly, I have a full life: husband, kids, fulltime job. I just like the fantasy.

[DonVitoCorleone]

Haven't read the full thread yet but i do this all the time. When i told DP i had to have a bit of a day dream before i could fall asleep he told me i was weird i now wonder if his mind is totally blank before he goes to sleep

[vladthedisorganised]

Of course. Especially when I'm bored. I'm an only child who writes fiction so it was inevitable I suppose. I don't really remember when I didn't.

I find it happens especially when I'm trying to get through a very tedious task - my outer self might be waiting for a delayed train and feeling a bit chilly, my inner self is a Jason Bourne-like character who can see snipers at every turn and manages to 'rinse' the CIA assassins that are heading towards me on platform 12..

Sometimes my fantasy life makes its way into a plot line, more often not - it would be a bit Mary-Sue-ish if it did, mostly. "'It's been years since I played the piano,' said Vlad with a shrug, 'but if you need a session musician for the follow up to your platinum-selling album, then I could give it a go.' Anthony Kiedis breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God they could record to schedule, despite his broken hand. And something told him that this mysterious lady he'd bumped into on the train might have more to her than met the eye...."

[Penguinsaresmall]

In my other life, Idris Elba is on his knees, begging me for it every night...

Or is that not the same thing?