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Original poster

Anyone else lives another life in their head?

168 replies

moumoute · 22/07/2019 22:48

I daydream of another lifestyle everyday. In the evening I search for a flat for my imaginary life.
I love my kid, I live in a small but decent flat, in a clean city but I'm not very inspired. So I imagine days out on my own or meeting with interesting people,etc...
Anyone else?

OP posts:
shewhomustbeEbayed · 03/08/2019 19:26

I often wake up in the morning from from vivid dreams and believe that the life I’ve lived in them feels at least as real as my day life. I carry a warm feeling around all day looking forward to going back to it.

lotusbell · 03/08/2019 20:06

Also do this and didnt realise it was a thing! The thing is, I sometimes fall asleep before I've really got going and then I have to sort of start again the next night!

Notthetoothfairy · 03/08/2019 20:10

I don’t do this but have a variation where I imagine I am always being watched (but with the other person or people being inside my head as if they literally are me).

SamSoSer · 03/08/2019 20:39

Yes! I’m super slim, youthful and irresistible to all who meet me. In independently wealthy and my voice has been discovered by those who count. I have small parts singing in movies. This is how I met my husband Gerard Butler. He’s completely obsessed with me and the sex is so good that if you harnessed the energy the world wouldn’t need fossil fuels.

Toomuchtrouble4me · 03/08/2019 21:01

I want one! I don’t do this - but I’m going to start planning it tonight!😉

summeraupair · 03/08/2019 22:16

Ohhh I've always done this, for as long as I can remember, usually just before bed but when I was a child it bled into my days too (only child, chatting away to my imaginary friends for far too many years). The first long-running one I can remember was at roughly age 4 being best friends with all the Gladiators and having this elaborate fantastic life with them Grin though there were many more depending on what fandoms I was into at the time.

Now it's more or less just before sleeping every night. For nearly twenty years I've been in a heavy metal band in Middle Earth, apparently. I'm a writer too, and situations from the daydreams do creep into my books, even though they're not remotely fantasy-based. I have an entire playlist devoted to it and I live for long solo train trips where I can plug in my headphones and escape the real world for a while.

It's always worried me a little that when I reach old age, I might develop dementia or Alzheimers or something that will bring it all to the surface and I'll be there in the nursing home chatting away merrily to Aragorn and Eomer while my grandchildren look at me in horror!

...I'm off to Google maladaptive daydreaming...

Justajot · 03/08/2019 22:18

I've done this for as long as I can remember. I remember doing it aged 5, partly because I was sure that if anyone was touching me while I daydreamed, they'd be able to tell what I was dreaming.

When I was 5, my best friend moved abroad and I daydreamed about him coming back on a huge boat.

My daydreams now are all set when I was about 18-22, so are a bit "groundhog Day" while I try out different ideas. Many include "the one who got away", though in reality he didn't get away, I met DH.

ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs · 03/08/2019 22:19

Yes! I'm working in a sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica, nurturing baby sloths back to health

MsJaneAusten · 03/08/2019 22:26

Oh. My. Gosh.

I’m normal. I’ve never realised that other people do this too. I had a long affair with Joseph Fiennes in my original imaginary life. His family were lovely. My current daydreams are less detailed, but generally involve breaking world records Grin

MumofaDragon · 03/08/2019 22:28

Oh absolutely lol ... life would not be the same without it :)

blueshoes · 03/08/2019 22:39

Yes, all the time. Parents said I live in my own world.

Now I no longer do it. It could be because I am post-menopause. It is liberating and a little sad.

Lifeover · 03/08/2019 22:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

1CantPickAName · 03/08/2019 23:02

I’m a bit disappointed because I thought my pre-sleep imaginings were a form of premonitions destined to come true. Obviously Not!!!! Bloody Mumsnet!!! 😁

I often buy a lottery ticket and carry it in my purse because, until I find out that it’s not a winning ticket, I’m always a (potential) winner!

Recently I was doing some online house shopping, like you do when there is no chance you will ever be able to afford a house, and one came up in a very desirable area near where I live. Not a very nice house tbf but I’m suddenly day dreaming about buying it, knocking it down and building a 5 bed house (very deluxe of course) with guest anex and pool house!

I have a euromillions ticket in my purse so watch this space..,,,,,,

lost11cause · 03/08/2019 23:02

I have done this all my life and because I love creative writing I have always turned my fantasy lives into stories - it is excellent therapy and free - I have now started writing fan fiction and discovered just how many people do this and some are quite talented - I think fans of TV shows often put themselves into the show with their favourite actor - currently my fantasy self is living at the court of Louis XIV at Versailles in an alternative version of the 17th century where they have hi-tech and mod cons but ride horses, fight with swords and have 17th century furniture and fashions and a 17th century mentality.
If I couldn't escape to this parallel dimension I think I would have gone mad by now! Anais Nin said “Had I not created my whole world, I would certainly have died in other people’s. ”

ConkerGame · 03/08/2019 23:08

Omg I’ve always done this and had no idea others did it too! I’ve had one “other life” going since I was a child and another one that started when I got my first job.

Can’t believe all this time I never knew loads of other people did it and it even has a name!

Celestine70 · 03/08/2019 23:24

I love day dreaming. I have all sorts of other lives 😂

SmellbowSpaceBowl · 03/08/2019 23:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Frokni · 03/08/2019 23:33

Mine started at childhood too. I cannot sleep without daydreaming or whatever you want to call it! I feel I had an okay childhood but I was bored a lot, so I imagined myself in other scenarios. Now, as a contented adult, my escapes are like huge sagas which run on for years with detailed storylines.

My fav - inheriting lost Art by famous painters then having a Midnight in Paris journey to the past to explore how the pieces were in the family! I take on a different character each time in the shots to the past but i am usually a muse who is gorgeous and smokes cigarettes with a long black filter!

:-)

Wynston · 03/08/2019 23:40

Hmmmm i didnt realise that others didnt do it.......there was me just assuming thats what everyone did!!!
I feel a bit sad now........what do others do??.........what do they think about in place of this?????

SkaTastic · 03/08/2019 23:41

I do this when I'm falling asleep. I've won the lotto and all sorts of amazing things happen! I even get cross at going to sleep sometimes because I want to carry on designing my renovated farmhouse for a bit longer.

Witchend · 04/08/2019 00:37

I do this too. Especially when going to sleep, but also on train journey and car journeys (when not driving). I've done it for years.

I have a very convoluted fantasy land that has gone on since I was about 7 or 8 yo. I tend to have scenes that play out in my head for several weeks, and then move on.

I also have a couple of adventure stories that I would play out each scene in my head until I was happy to write them down.

Bobbi73 · 04/08/2019 00:51

In mine, I'm a highly acclaimed and successful photo journalist who has lived a fantastically interesting life and has amazing parties full of crazy characters that I've met on my travels around the world. I live (when I'm at home) in a beautiful house with a huge gorgeous garden. I never had children or got married but have an amazing long term partner who lives in another country. We don't begrudge each other occasional lovers and he was very understanding during my passionate affair with Tom Hardy a few years ago....
My real life is lovely but very much not this!

MountIronSolo01 · 04/08/2019 00:56

I’m a roadie for a famous rock band along with my pal Danny but actually he’s FBI and my bodyguard and I’m hiding as there’s a hit out on me. Eventually I have to reveal I’m an amazing guitarist to drawn out the hit man and Danny shoots him. The lead singer is blown away by how fucking cool I am and he’s never noticed. Then we get married 🤣

Seahorseshoe · 04/08/2019 01:25

Yes!!!!!

Yes also to the poster renovating a cottage in Ireland. 😂👋

I can relate to so much of what's been said here.

TooManyPaws · 04/08/2019 01:57

For a good part of my life I've been a Pictish princess at the time of Roman Britain, so fighting against them but then finding this amazingly handsome Roman soldier....

I'm also the middle class mistress of a 18th century nobleman. I'm his 'real' wife but he had to marry elsewhere for political and dynastic reasons, and I'm not upper class.