So ever since i was a little kid I’ve been enjoying making like fake scenarios in my head when i go to sleep. Only that they’re not in my head entirely. I actually sorta act them out. Like i whisper to myself what the characters in my scenarios do and they’re usually like celebrities. I match them up with eachother make them date and sometimes they get even sexual. Do i need to seek help?
It’s not affecting my everyday life and I don’t always do it. But i’m sure that it’s not common.
It’s like fanfic type thing but i whisper to myself. Very quietly. Actually it’s like creating a mini story. I eventually get tired and fall asleep. Anybody?
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Are you me? I do the same, and feel weird about it, but I find it’s healthy to make up scenarios, especially post a fight with someone. Gives you room to act out what you want to say, but you now have the freedom of a quiet, private space to which you can do such a thing.
Yes! I even have a plot line that’s been going since 2016.
I imagine you may have experienced trauma as a child? This is avoidance at its best. Lots of people do this in many different ways (I’m a therapist so I have a lot of experience working with folks who do this). I think it’s less common that you speak it out. If it’s not bothersome, then I think it’s fine. If it is or you’re experiencing other symptoms, I would go talk to someone.
I need to play mind games to fall asleep too. My latest is I think of different superpowers and then imagine what I would do with it.
I do this every night!
Only way I can go to sleep. The scenarios start to become nonsensical. That’s when I know I’ll sleep
I used make up dreams in my head, usually about my favorite TV shows. I’d come of ways that I wished the characters would interact. One show, it actually happened. They were a way to help me get to sleep I guess, or a escape mechanism for the way my life was. I probably did speak them out loud every now and then.
This also might lead you into lucid dreaming. I’ve done that before falling asleep where I run situations through my mind involving myself and it drifts into a dream but it’s that haze between dreaming and thinking/controlling what’s happening!
I’m 62 and have always done it.
Oh hell yeah whole storylines and scenarios
I have done that since I was a teenager. I thought I was the only one and I have never told anyone I do it.
Its normal, my hypothesis is that we lay down before the mind is ready to sleep, so we try to exhaust our mind by making it basically generate complex scenarios or stories so we can fall asleep
Been doing it since 1977.
I lay there and think about something good and happy. Something that I know would never happen but would make me happy.
Sort of a scenario.
That sounds like the perfect way to kickstart dreaming.
I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember! I guess it makes sense that I eventually got into fiction writing.
Maladaptive daydreaming. I do it, too. Not exactly in the same way you do, but it’s been part of my sleep routine for my whole life. I rarely do it outside of that, and it doesn’t disrupt my life either, but it’s not exactly “normal”. It can be a trauma response.
Grew out of it, same feeling that playing with toys would have. Maybe constant dopamine killed it
Oh my gosh all you guys sound so creative and fun!! I don’t do this and I guess I never really did! But maybe I can try it tonight!
Oh you mean I’m not the only one last night busy saving my co-workers from the crazy serial killer that found their way into our office during a routine meeting who I got close enough to throat punch so the hidden gun landed just far enough away for me to kick it out of arms reach and put my foot on their neck to keep them in place while my boss – who now wants to promote me because my awesome life saving skills also mean I must be a quick thinker equals pay raise – called the authorities and everyone just can’t stop looking at the awesomeness of me while I have the awe-shucks shrug????!!!! Hahahhahaha. Weekly. It’s exhausting being this talented.
I pretend me and my fiance are lions laying napping in the sunshine
Been rehashing my day in my head every night as long as I can remember and I’m in my fifties now
Every single night, but mine mostly stay in my head. Very rarely do I whisper to myself, but it does happen sometimes
When I (rarely) cannot immediately fall asleep, I utilize two techiques:
I imagine a conversation with a famous person from history. It could be anyone.
I have log cabin homestead department in the woods. I imagine going about a typical day.
Both calm any racing or intrusive thoughts and allow me to fall asleep.
I like to think about things I wish would happen to me and what that would look kike
This is a common thing that’s been discussed millions of times, I’m pretty sure at least 1 in 3 people do this
Call it immersive daydreaming, maladaptive dreaming lite, or bedtime fanfic roleplay… whatever. You’re not alone
I do it everynight.
I’ve had a crush on the same fictional character since I was a kid, and the character I created in my head has lived her little life with this fictional character in his universe almost every night for 25 years. Some nights, I’m designing what her house looks like, others, I’m expanding on her backstory.
A popular story is when my lil’ character first meets this fictional guy. I keep changing little details on exactly how it happens, but she almost always rescues him!
47 year old here; i e done it most of my entire life. Therapist called it r/maladaptivedreaming but i dont quite relate to that; lots of folks in this sub seem to think its some weird bad habit to be broken, some are like us… its just… what we do ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Omg for 57 years I thought I was the only one! Lol, this just made my day!
Whole families; symphonies composed; Oscars won. Kinda makes me stop thinking about my real world problems.
Maybe this isn’t a good thing.
I’m 42 and I’ve been doing this for about a year. It started naturally when I went through a period of stress (redundancy) and had trouble sleeping. I enjoy camping so I run scenarios through my mind about wild camping in scenic spots, being in a tent in the rain tucked into a sleeping bag where nobody knew where I was. I’ve even opened a window next to my bed to let cold air in to add some realism.
My 8 year old daughter often complains at bedtime that she can’t sleep so I told her what I do and it works for her.
As a kid i used to run around the house when getting lost in my own stories.
Nowadays im old and tired so i cant act rhem out but i would
Yes but i have to start over all the time, because im imagining my outfit, and I loose the inner visual, or trying to find the right fit LOL. So the inner movie is kind of on pause, until my fit is fitting
I do this but with stories or families I want to create in the sims. I think about the complex remand family dynamics and stories and then I fall asleep.
fr if u havent dreamed up a whole midnight harry styles romance at 2am did u even sleep real!
and if u yelled at an imaginary bf before bed girl ur not alone lmao its not a cry for help it just means ur an oscar ready dream director ❤️