Q & A

Q: I only just today found out about Walter Mitty syndrome by pure chance i stumbled across it on a science forum and decided to see what else i could find out about it and that's when i found your blog that gave a detailed description of what it actually is and i was genuinely quite shocked because you described perfectly the exact same thing that I've done and continue to do every single day!
my whole life Ive drifted in and out of intense and powerful daydreams and i never quite thought that other people could really understand the intensity or how substantial a role it has played in my life and also i really believed i was the only person who did this and maybe i was just a bit mad :-p but in recent times I've learnt to embrace it and to be honest i couldn't imagine life without it i wouldn't like to be stuck in the real boring world all the time and besides i live a perfectly normal life with many friends and other hobbies.
if you'd like id be really interested to hear some of your experiences but of course i can just read your blog :-p
just one interesting thing id like to note though that might make my case slightly more bizarre, when i go in to these fantasy worlds i seem to lose control of many of my motor functions and walk around doing some odd kind of spasms, i know that's kind of weird but i was just curious as to whether you experienced this too?
but anyway thank you for the information and the blog i found it all very helpful oh and p.s i don't know if you still do it but i also watch a lot of anime and yes it has a great influence on my daydreams:-p

A: Like you I have daily daydreams mine can last for hours. I started having them around middles school I've learned to multi-task meaning I can think multiple thoughts but I can't seem to answer questions while daydreaming but I can hold a conversation with others while daydreaming. I can and do almost everything daydreaming when It 1st started back in middle school I would find myself starring at the wall for hours when I finally came out of the daydream I had lost several hours I also started to choose my daydreams over being with family and friends so I suppressed my daydreams but that just made things worse and increased the urge to have them. So I just learned to function with these daydreams. In school doing hw took me hours because I was so bored doing it, so I would daydream I finally learned to do hw in my daydreams. I'm just a spectator in my daydreams but niki in my story has a really smart older brother that would help her with her hw which was really my hw in real life anyway that's how I pretty much dealt with it. In college I was able to suppress it for a little over a year then they came back that's when I created this blog. My doctors says people with walter Mitty make great writers so you should try writing what you see down who know it could be the next great novel. While in my daydream I may give a blank stare but that's about it there is no spasms but every case is different. Yes I still watch a little anime for me anime, certain music and certain TV shows are triggers when I was younger I would try to trigger these daydreams but now I avoid my triggers as much as possible.

Q:it seems as though you yourself really wish you didnt have this tendancy to daydream intensely, if you dont mind me asking would you rather you never had it? i know what you mean about it interefering with your life as a younger child i had no friends until i was about 11 or 12 because i didnt need them i just went into my own little world, but i soon realised however strong the fantasy it cant permanentaly replace real experiences so now i dont let it interefere and just do it in my spare time. is that the case for you?

A: Yes, I often wonder why me but we are all given obstacles in life, mine isn't as bad as some. When I was younger I loved the fact that I could do this but now I really don't have time to waste on such fantasies. I can't really control when I daydream its often spontaneous and can consumes all of my time not just my spare time.

Q: i was just wondering are you able to control what happens in your daydreams?
from reading your extracts it seems as though some of yours are quite
distressing, are you not able to help what happens in them?

A: I can't control what happens in my daydreams It's complicated because I'm a character but also a spectator. I have no control over my characters actions and as a spectator I know more than her but I can't help or warn her. I once tried to redirect the daydream it wasn't effective because the script in my head is already written in stone and can only be added to not taken away from.

Q: how often would you fantasise? and how aware are you of whats going on around you?

A: Theses fantasies play in my head all day If I'm up for 12 hours then 10-11 hours are spent in a fantasy. The only way they stop is if I make them but that usually doesn't last 10 minutes. I'm fully aware of what's going on around me, the only time I'm not is when the story is getting really good and then I kinda zone out.

Q: Do your fantasies change to suit your mood by any chance?

A: Yes, kinda If I'm sad then my character is sad and the other characters cheer her up, If I'm angry then the reason I'm angry is written into the story.

Q:do you think these fantasies have influenced your decisions in life in any way?

A: Yes, that's the real reason I want them gone I feel like they're changing who I am even though I don't really know who I am, I know I don't want to be the character in the story. I also think seeing these things in my head are corrupting me and I really don't think it's healthy. Also I'm scared I might act out one of these scenes. I probably wouldn't but who knows certain aspects of this story are actually quite true of my life.

Thanks for your questions I'll be glad to answer anymore you may have.