Am I mental or are there others like me out there....???

[Starlight1984]

Firstly, I know that I have an extremely active imagination, I'm an over-thinker and also an only child so had to make scenarios up in my head a lot growing up😂

But there are some directions my brain goes in which I don't think are normal?? And I don't know whether it's actually a condition or has a name but would be keen to know if there is anyone else like this here on MN?!

I will give an example from today (which is what made me think) and see if anyone gets this!

So I was walking through the city centre earlier and passed a man on the street walking the opposite direction. He looked like he was of Middle Eastern descent, pleasant face, thick glasses, maybe late 50s / 60s... Dressed well in a long wool coat and big colourful scarf. Canvas bag across him. Very boho. Kind of a retired professor vibe?! Anyway (and here's where I might sound insane), instantly my brain kicks into creating a scenario and straight away I get a feeling of what his house looks like (lots of bookshelves, thick fabrics, big armchairs, lamps with big shades with the tassels on...). Maybe incense or a candle burning and some soft music (maybe jazz) playing on the radio. I can picture him sat in a big leather chair in the corner of the room, reading and then getting up to check on something cooking in the kitchen...

This happens a lot to me! Not with everyone I see but certain people, the sense of knowing them and their lives is really overwhelming?! I never speak to these people and I'm probably way off the mark ("retired professor" probably lives in a modern high rise apartment and actually works in tech😂) but it's so strange that it's such a strong feeling?!

But I also do the same when I walk past certain houses and can see inside, I get an instant feeling of who lives there, what they do for a living, the way the house smells, the conversations they're having whilst cooking...

Can anyone explain this? Am I just a bit of a dreamer / avid reader with a good imagination? Or has it actually got a name?!

Would be interested / love to know if anyone else is similar too!

I do wonder if it is as common in men though. Most men don't believe in instinct or understand it is thousands of social cues women are adept at decoding because they need to feel safe. Most men I have met can't even think what their long term partner would possibly want for a birthday, for example.

No, I don’t do this much at all but I’m not that interested in strangers.

There are some massive generalisations here. There’s no evidence that most men don’t believe in instinct or that men don’t understand social cues. This simply isn’t true. Men are not intrinsically less imaginative than women.

https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fapl0000999

Ok, you said in your experience, I said in mine...anecdata.

Goodness this sounds terrifying. Well done for handling it so well and trusting your intuition

I do this all the time. I also make up stories whilst Im watching people. Imagining weird and wonderful things that 'could' happen.
The weirdest thing I do (and I dont know anyone else who does it but be interested to know if anyone here does) - is everywhere I go I like to imagine Im suddenly transported to the past and what it would be like - so 200 years ago, 400 years ago etc. - with a special interest in tudor period. I like to imagine what the people in the street or building I am in (especially if its old) would be doing and how they would be living. I am mostly in another world tbh. Normal life just seems to dull.

How lovely! I’m an accountant and don’t have your imagination at all, I just look at things and calculate how much they cost. Your world sounds more fun!

Me too, I talk to myself, internally, far more than I talk to anyone else. My mind is never empty and I make up all sorts of things about all sorts of people.

Some people have very vivid imaginations. As if they step into a set. It is skill that comes in very useful when writing fiction.

I daydream a lot and make up scenarios in my head. But it does not come with that level of vivid, visual detail. In real life, I am not very observant of what is happening around me because I live in an inner world.

You should test whether imaginings are true. That way, you will know whether it is just imagination or psychic ability.

Pattern recognition and imagination.

Firstly, I think most people have responded without really thinking! I doubt most people have that level of imagination! It is not the norm for most people.
I think a lot of people believe they relate, or would like to.
It sounds like you live in a very imaginative world , and if you are not already , should definitely jump into the creative world, telling stories, writing songs.
The only "disorder" I can think of , which I'm sure doesn't apply to you, but I wanted to answer the question, would be hyperphantasia.

I think you sound amazing x

You certainly aren't the only one

I think you sound amazing x

🥴

Agatha Christie wrote The Body in the Library on having seen an older man in a wheelchair surrounded by family and letting her imagination wander.

Sadly I don't have a storytelling imagination, actually I can go days without a word in my head outside of ooo I'll cook that for tea, or I need some more shampoo. I'd like to think I'm very practised at meditating but it's more possible that I just don't think much 😆

I size up people pretty acurately on first sight though. A lot of people throughout my life have asked how I "knew" someone was they way they turned out to be after just a few minutes of meeting them. I'm pretty adept at reading body language and probably some hunter weakness spotting instinct we all have that I'm tapping into.

I agree with others though, sounds like you have a great imagination useful for some creative writing. I've been to a few workshops for marketing upskilling, they can be a lot of fun even if writing isn't your thing.

Oh yeah I do this often

Not quite the same thing but ‘sonder’ is one of my favourite words and means ‘the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own’.

Love that. I often look at people passing in cars and study their faces and wonder what their lives are like. Now I have a word for what I do.

It's certainly nothing to be ashamed of. Do you have a creative outlet such as painting, writing or craft?

Oh I'm extremely nosy too! Must all be part of the same make-up?!

No but I am definitely thinking I should do after reading these replies!

You thought it was worthy of clicking on and reading and replying to?

It's a light-hearted conversation @ElizabethTaylorsEyebrow . Chill out.

Weirdly I'm a qualified accountant too (not practising currently) 😂

Maybe that's WHY I need an imaginary outlet - to get me through the boredom!

I think that’s a fair point, actually. I mean, I don’t think imagining things about total strangers is particularly unusual among people I know, so it says something about your circles if they think it’s deeply weird? I know a lot of writers and artists, which explains now, but I remember when I was spending vast amounts of time in a university library doing a research degree, seeing the same people I didn’t know every day, and realising that among people I did know, we all had imagined identities for the regulars — Sinister Pinafore (dressed like a Victorian child but was in her fifties), the Nice Italians (got to know them later, and they were both nice and Italian), Eighteenth-Century Girl (the head off Ingres’ Mademoiselle Rivière), the Ghost (never seen entering or leaving, ate her lunch in the women’s toilets)etc etc.

Ah I've had worse, we had a guy head butt another guy at Christmas. That was worse.

It's part of the job, thankfully not often.

Worse one was a lady customer who went for me with a Prosecco bottle, luckily one of my regulars grabbed her and launched her out the door. It's why I'm always nice to my customers