To ask what your weird secret behaviour is?

[GunpowderGelatine]

You know, the kind of behaviour only you know about which is unusual, and would make people go but you love doing?

For example, I binge on three different Netflix programmes at any one time in what I call a "3-2-1" sequence, which goes like this:

• I will watch a long series (currently Peep Show) 3 episodes at a time
• then I will watch 2 episodes of a shorter series (Santa Clarita Diet at the mo)
• I'll then watch one episode of a weekly-type series after that (Jane the Virgin season 5 at the moment)
• Then it starts with the 3 episodes again, and so on and so forth

I can't deviate from the 3-2-1 sequence, and if for example I've finished the Santa Clarita Diet episodes but the next episode of Jane the Virgin isn't on until 2 day's time, I'll wait to watch anything more until then. I can't just skip it and watch the next 3 Peep Shows, or the world will probably end or something

I don't know why I do this or when it started, but it works for me

Please make me feel normal and tell me your secret weird behaviour

I watch YouTube videos about self-improvement, self-development, decluttering etc. aimed at viewers in their late teens/early twenties and find them inspiring. I’m 38 years old.

When left alone I can spend a solid couple of hours singing along to Gold Radio’s 50s, 60s and 70s pop back catalogue very loudly indeed. More than one neighbour has commented on it over the years.

The amount I love mumsnet would be weird to some people, especially as I don’t even have kids. This thread totally exemplifies what I love about it... what you learn about others, and realising we’re all as weird as each other!

I have maladaptive daydreaming. I didn't even know that this had a name until very recently when I discovered the term on MN. I've done it my whole life and have never told anyone IRL because I think they'd think I was a right weirdo. I have a character who has been with me since the age of 10. Characters have been added or changed over the years but "Freddie" has remained the constant. I'm 53 now but he has stayed at about 35. I know that some have said that fantasy and reality become blurred but that's never been an issue. I'm aware that he and the supporting characters are in my head but if for any reason I had to give them up I would genuinely miss them. I suffered from anxiety and mild OCD as a child despite having a pretty good childhood. I was diagnosed with Bipolar II in my mid twenties and I'm not sure if the maladaptive daydreaming is somehow linked to that. Whatever, I enjoy it, it's my secret weird behaviour!

Namechange8471 Another maladaptive daydreamer. I've done it my whole life and thought it was something I'd grow out of by I never have. I always thought it was something peculiar to me, I can't imagine anyone else I know doing this and I'm not about to come out and tell people I know in IRL because I think they'd think me rather strange but I enjoy it

DNo I have exactly the same thing. We stayed in a hotel on a floor very high up when my DS was a baby/toddler and I kept seeing horrific images in my mind of me throwing him out of the window. I also think of throwing myself off of high buildings, cliffs etc. Whenever I am near one. It’s absolutely horrible! I find it strangely comforting to know someone else experiences this.

When in meetings at work I imagine (involuntarily) making a hugely inappropriate or offensive remark quite loudly, and then the reactions from others. I actually feel slightly afraid that I’ll do this one day.

I also have to create stories to get to sleep, and if I'm ever somewhere alone (feeding neighbours cat if they're on holiday, in office alone at work) I think there could always be undercover cameras. So always go above and beyond so that if someone watched the footage they'd think I was a wonderful person.

@mnhq please add this to classics!

Smudggle you do know that's an autistic trait, don't you-hand flapping?

I pretend I am on podcasts/Desert Island Discs/Woman’s Hour, talking about my bestselling novel (I do not have a bestselling novel).

I daydream about getting said bestselling novel published, in great detail from meeting/securing an agent to holding a book launch. Tbf I have written a novel, but it is v much unpublished.

I argue in my head with people I know.

I read internet snark sites and argue in my head with the bloggers and Instagrammers I read about on them.

I clench my buttocks every time the vehicle I am in goes past a parked car/lamp-post/tree. Sometimes each buttock corresponds to its own side of the road- it gets complicated.

I make up eulogies for my (living) loved ones almost involuntarily, when a song that reminds me of them comes on.

I imagine being the subject of a miscarriage of justice and the speech I would make, with dignity and composure, when I was finally released.

I also stick kirby grips into my ears like cotton buds. I know it’s bad and I have not done it for two weeks.

(I am having therapy, in case anyone is wondering )

Whenever I hear a short phrase or name I switch the first letters of two of the words/name and make myself double over laughing at the new words. I do it out loud at home and my son is at his wits end with me

I also have very basic ability in another language that my son is fluent in and try and speak as much as I can in it at home. He finds this hilarious. “Mum you just said stand up outside” I’ve now found myself thinking certain phrases in this language and have accidentally spoken to people out in the normal world using them. I’m met with many faces.

MsScribbles I’m on desert island discs regularly. I also have a bafta and have won the booker prize with a book I haven’t written yet.

Whenever I see anything written by Santa Sebag Montefiore I whisper “fuck off” because I don’t think it was fair how she got her writing contract.

spling delete

Another maladaptive daydreamer here - I had no idea it had a name until I saw it on mumsnet. I've had one main story going for 20 years. I love it, it helps me get to sleep and entertains me during long car journeys (and boring meetings at work...). Sounds like most people do it if mumsnet is anything to go by! I wonder how many books and films started off as maladaptive daydreams!

The other weird thing I do is several times a week I wake up suddenly (usually quite soon after falling asleep) with absolutely no idea where I am or who the person in bed next to me is. I can't remember going to bed and have a massive panic that I haven't brushed my teeth, leap out of bed and then usually figure it out halfway to the bathroom. It's probably some kind of sleep walking, but I feel completely awake.

@EjectorCrab

^*I get weirdly obsessed about things for no apparent reason and want to learn everything about said things until I move in to the next thing.

My current obsession is Norway. I have no idea why, never been or considered going. But I’m obsessively reading about Norway, Norwegian history, places in Norway, the people of Norway, traditions in Norway. I watch long YouTube videos of trains as they travel through Norway. And I’ve just learnt about a farm that is 10m under water after an avalanche created a dam which flooded the farm. It’s pretty obsessive right? Anyway, it’ll last probably another few weeks before my next obsession comes along (might be another place, a person, an event).*^

This is what I do!! Over the years I've been obsessed with China, The Holocaust and Auschwitz, The current Royal family, The Tudors, The Victorians, The doomsday clock, The cocaine trade, The Maldives, The Indian Ocean, Slavery, The Plague, American history, The diamond trade, British Politics, Weddings, The Kardashians 🙈, many many celebrities, suffragettes and women's movement, polygamy, the Titanic, Geishas, to name a few.

I know I'm odd

I listen to the 80s song 'Agadoo' on Alexa at least once a day. I know the whole dance routine and pretend I'm doing it to entertain my baby but I actually secretly love it.

@questabellatreetop @EjectorCrab I'm the same - get fixated on a subject and have to find out EVERYTHING. From motorway bridges to Milton Keynes to tunnels under London to American serial killers to Princess Diana...the list goes on and on and on... If I watch a film I will research the shit out of it - actors, locations, etc etc

@questabellatreetop
We must have been separated at birth. Current is still Norway. But previous ‘topics’ have included the Apollo missions, Vera Brittain, Titanic, the Romanovs, Wilfred Owen, Marie Curie, the Vikings, Mount Everest and people who have climbed Mount Everest, Olaf Tufte, Cornwall, Iceland, Black Holes... and so many more. I reckon I’d be great at Mastermind.

@tisonlymeagain
I do the film thing too... 😂

I will search public records for anything I can find on people I meet. Sometimes it's friends I've known for a while too. I find out where they live, how much their house cost and if they have a mortgage and how much they took out. I will see if they have any criminal records. Found out my maid of honor was arrested and spent a night in jail for shoplifting two days after my wedding and she never told me! Looking through those records also led me to find out she wasn't alone and another friend did it with her. I did eventually confront her about it. Something in my head told me to look her up as she was acting a little strange and said she had some family issues. I live in the US so all of this is public information you can search for online. I do feel a bit invasive as these are obviously things most people keep private but I just love knowing this info!

I also sometimes look up people from my past. Ex boyfriends, classmates, people I am no longer on good terms with, etc. Sometimes I find some juicy info and it kills me inside because I cannot tell anyone I know. My DH's ExDW cheated and married her lover, had two kids with him and are now divorced. I wonder if he knows any of that. I cannot tell him I know this info because I don't want him to think I'm a stalker!

@Tiaptia85 I like AMSR too. I like this 3 mins in with the pink cubes!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=EYl9oe3gOKY&t=200s

I'm a very normal professional person on the outside but at home - I like eating my meals from plastic crockery (ie camping plates/bowls and those IKEA plastic cutlery). If I'm in a restraint - I always think the meal is nice, but it would be much nicer if I had my plastic bowl and fork