Do you sometimes pretend for fun?

[Mrsphilmiller]

For instance, if you work in retail, do you pretend you actually work in a hospital and get your tasks done pretending they’re something hospital related?
Another example could be what I was just doing. Cleaning my living/kitchen area, but I was pretending I’m working in a restaurant and getting ready for a busy dinner service.

does anybody else pretend or am I a weirdo? 😵‍💫

Honestly thought I was the only person in the world daft enough to do this! I often pretend to be Kim from HCIYH when doing the housework and Nigella Lawson, when cooking. I have never had a diagnosis but I do fit many of the adhd criteria. I’m also highly synaesthetic.

Me too!

I do kind of do an ongoing interview in my head. Imagining that someone is interviewing me as an excellent example of someone who has it ‘all together’ and I’m giving tips on my brilliance 😂 it motivates me to be a bit more together

Yes when cooking dinner I sometimes pretend I'm on a cooking show. More Fanny Cradock than Nigella though!

When walking into town I have conversations with time travellers bringing them up to speed with what's been going on in the world since their day. At the moment it is mainly my Dad from the 1980s which is mad as he is actually alive now, it is just I know 1980s Dad would have been interested to see the future! It has been Sherlock Holmes, and other historical people both real and fictional from different eras.

Also I have written a bestseller set in my town which has been turned into a film and I am showing the actor who has been cast in the main role around the town and explaining my inspiration, they love the book so they are happy to put up with this. The actor obviously depends on who I fancy at that moment. Quite often it is Robert Downey Jr.

I actually hadn't realised this was 'a thing' nor that I was really doing it 😅

Years ago there was a reality show called something like The Family, a fly on the wall type thing - when I'm cleaning I imagine I'm on the show and viewers are watching and commenting - both on the bits I'm doing well but also the bits where I'm only doing half a job

@ImaginaryWeirdo

I think I remember your thread.
I have this too, since childhood - same fantasy life. Thought I was the only one till I saw the thread.

Yep, I pretend I'm on bake-off or masterchef when I'm cooking or baking.

Pretend I'm on x factor or auditioning for a stage show when I'm singing in the car.

My mum died many years ago and I pretend she can see through my eyes, my baby and my husband who she never got to meet so she knows I'm happy.

Love this thread. I like to imagine I'm HGV driver 😂

Not in this particular way but in many others.

One related thing I do is ‘challenge Anneka’ cleaning and showering. I even got my non-British ex onto this - he had no idea what Challenge Anneka even was but he totally engaged with the concept!

‘Are we doing normal showers or Challenge Anneka showers, ShitPuffin?’

I present my own cooking show when I cook 😀

This is me! I frequently pretend I'm being interviewed for my top tips on whatever task I'm undertaking at the time. So if I'm unpacking the food shopping I pretend I'm giving the lowdown on all the ways we're cutting our food budget, or if I'm doing laundry I'll 'talk' through my usual routine and offer tips on how to make it work. I suppose it's that feeling of wanting to be thought of as having something unique to contribute, even if only in my imagination 😂

I don't but it sounds fun !

I'm a maladaptive daydreamer. It developed in childhood as a coping mechanism and just sort of stuck around.

I have alternative reality lives inside my head and when I need to, I pop off to one of them for a little while, which one I choose depends on what mood I'm in or what I need from it but some of my continuous tineline ones have been running for nigh on 30 years. Whereas other people might go lie on their bed for half an hour and have a nap, I'll go have a half hour daydream. I have rules around doing it - I don't do it when I'm in charge of the DC or at times when I need to be "present", I don't choose it over real life (e.g., cancelling plans for it), and I don't do it when I need to be concentrating on the task at hand. Mostly I use it to relax my brain, to help me fall asleep, or for when I need to zone out of reality for a bit.

When I am swimming I sometimes pretend there is a scout watching me and he says he has never seen such an accomplished swimmer before. 😂
Singing in the car I pretend I have such an amazing voice but I have decided not to tell anyone because I don't want the hassle of fame.

Yes I do! I pretend I'm cleaning because the queen is coming to visit or that I work in a fancy hotel

Watch Billy Liar. His life is like this.

All the time. I'm a billionaire who uses my vast wealth and influence to change the world for the better, I have won several Oscars, every meal time I'm on Saturday kitchen, I get relentlessly stalked by the press for my amazing fashion choices - you should see some of my met gala dresses. I'm so normal on the outside, I just love stories and hate being bored 🤣

When I go to sleep, to help me clear my mind of work I have a couple of little fantasy holiday scenarios I go to and pretend to be free and single and enjoying a luxurious/relaxing/fun holiday on my own. I have a white noise app on my phone that I have in the background playing sounds of ocean waves crashing, which really helps.

Alternatively, if I really get in to a good TV crime type series, I imagine I'm a regular cast member that is often crucial to the team in relation to solving the crime!

I am a big big day dreamer. So much better than reality.

Wow! i thought it was just me ,ive pretended since i was a kid ,imaginary friends ,fairies at the bottom of the garden,nowadays i always do a makeup tutorial while putting my makeup on giving several different brands you could use if you dont have mine! Doolally tap or what

I frequently present an excellent cooking show while I make dinner.

I do this too - showing my expert cooking for family tips, trekking in some far away land when strolling back from work, being interviewed for something.

I also remember the thread referred to above about imaginary lives people have. I've now decided that my lead singer husband and I (both very wealthy as I am also song writer and producer) have decided to have a family and we are moving from California to Bournemouth to get away from gun crime and are building a lovely house.

That is really interesting. I dip into the timeline of my daydream life and have done for years, probably about 20 or so (teen crush originally!). A few years ago I would go into my little imaginary world as often as I could when I was under a massive amount of stress and my mental health was at an absolute low.

When I'm cleaning, I imagine it's because my parents are going to surprise me with a visit (they're not, they live on the other side of the world) and they'll be wowed by how nice my house is (they wouldn't be, they don't care about that stuff!) I plan what "welcome to the Uk" meal I'd make them on their first night and everything! I also do the "clean with me video" scenario :)

And when I organise the fridge or unpack shopping or clean my kids room, I imagine social services have incorrectly turned up at my address, and inspect my house, and they are so impressed by what a great set up I have for him and what a wonderful parent I am. How cringey is that one???

In the shower, I'm a motivational speaker, or a very talented singer, and no one knows until I perform at whatever impromptu opportunity it is I imagine.

I also plan the house I'll buy in the algarve when I win the lottery, in granular detail. I appoint imaginary accountants, movers, estate agents, cat sitters, sign up at the local doctors and dentists etc. Literally the dullest way to imagine your lottery win!!

I love this thread! My contribution is when I'm out walking my dog over field and down dale, if a helicopter appears anywhere on the horizon I imagine it's special agents after me as I'm on the run from corrupt state agencies, so I run and take cover. I then have to be careful to stay out of the open for the rest of the walk. It really gets my heart racing!