What is it like to daydream? Mr. NA asked how often I do and I realized I really don’t. I have literal dreams and occasionally I will recall a fond memory that I like to dwell on, but I don’t create fictional scenarios in my head. It’s not for lack of creativity, I just don’t think I’d enjoy it.
Do you imagine you’re living a different life? The star of the show? How often do you do it?
What about Kevin James?
I’ve never done anything like that. I’ve always assumed it was just a convenient plot device for movies/television.
I find him very attractive but have never envisioned any kind of life or scenario with him.
Wait…when my husband says he thinks Natalie Portman is hot, is he fantasizing about actually like being in a relationship with her? How far down does this go? Do they have a budget and game nights in his daydreaming? Has he picked out a name for their dog?
Me, too. But evidently Mr. NA does have actual daydreams once in a while, so it can’t be unheard of. Maybe actuaries are immune.
I used to as a kid.
Not really as an adult
At least once a day I’ll daydream especially when I’m walking and/or listening to music. For me, it’s a way to clear my mind and reset. I also use it to work through different situations I’ve been in that I think I could’ve handled better.
Sometimes studying will cause me to daydream when I’m overdue to take a few minutes break, or listening to music.
It’s not like a real dream, more like a lost in thought sort of thing where you stop really focusing on any visual/auditory inputs.
I daydream, especially when I’m tired. And in my case, it IS quite a lot like dreaming, with rambling shreds of story that don’t actually fit together. And it’s usually about dull things that happen to be on my mind.
I definitely daydream, and it’s not quite like my normal dreams. If I dream at night it is pretty random, I’ve never made sense of any of my dreams. Daydreaming is more like imaging our next vacation, or what it would be like to have FU money and trying to figure out what I’d do all day. Hint: probably not stare at Excel for six hours/day.
But you’d miss out on things like that cool new update to the LOGEST function
I’d trust that you all would keep me informed here of anything major like that happening.
My mind wanders all the time, goes unhooked. When I’m driving for long durations, or when I’m on the treadmill or bike for a long time. I think these downtimes are important.
the other time, i guess it’s not daydreaming so much as my mind making connections, is when I take a week+ vacation. After about a week, I start having numerous work eureka moments. Stuff I never would think of when I’m in the middle of it.
e.g. I had a client I was having a hard time getting on board. A week into vacation I sat up in bed at 4am with an idea that pretty much nailed why they needed to get off their butt and start sending me money. And, it worked.
I’ve a good friend who seems to be able to do that eureka stuff on a regular basis. I don’t know how, it’s pretty amazing to watch. Also, he’s got horseshoes where the sun doesn’t shine so that’s nice.
I daydream. Hollywood does a nice representation of how it is. Specifically, Kevin James’ True Memoirs of an International Assassin movie really nails it.
It often starts with some innocuous thought like “I’d rather be in Hawaii right now “ or “what if I was in the NBA” or “what if I had teleportation powers” and the mind just takes it from there creating a fun little story that I see “visually” playing out in my head.
When they are happening I’ll usually tune out what is going on in front of me, but it’s pretty easy to snap back into it.
Sometimes the day dreams are unpleasant like “what if my wife died” and then my mind plays out funeral, life, grief, etc.
Along similar lines when I listen to an audiobook I get sucked in and find myself making the hand actions or sighing or other things that the character is doing as I watch my mind’s movie of the book I’m listening to play out. This one especially happens while driving.
It’s also something I use to fall asleep at night if I’m having a hard time sleeping. Just put myself in a fun scenario and let it start playing and then 
Well I needed to do SOMETHING when I wasn’t getting laid…
But yes. Full storylines featuring dudes I find attractive in movies and an alternative version of myself that is both kind of me, but not really me. Alt-me has a pretty fleshed out backstory that I’m not going to get into.
I used to do this so much that I would actually find excuses to go to bed early so I wouldn’t have to fall asleep so fast.
I daydream often. Mostly similar to what was described in the above posts.
I think we’re moving past daydreaming 
Daydreaming, escapism, same diff 
Um, you go…gurl??? 
I think “Go study.” would be like spitting into the wind.