Do I have maladaptive daydreaming?

If you are able to wake up for school in the morning I’m not really seeing a problem.

But you should really be writing it all down. You could be the next J. K. Rowling.

Yes. Write! Take classes to learn to write better!
It’s only a problem if it interferes with your life. So far it seems ok. It’s your way of coping with life stresses and you are not hurting yourself or anyone else.
If it begins to interfere with your relationships or your ability to do school work then you might have to find a way to set it to the side. Until then dream away.

I day dream constantly and I’m more than twice your age. But I’m not exactly what anyone would call socially awkward. (They should, though, if you ask me!) I’m very social and quite an extrovert with some few introverted tendencies.

Around your age is when I started getting self-conscious about my mom and siblings noticing and commenting on how much fun I could have playing by myself through fictional action sequences, etc. Not something I ever did in public though. Just at home.

Anyway, “problem behaviors” kinda have to be a problem before they can be considered a problem. If you are daydreaming as much as I was then I would guess that you would turn out reasonably okay, as I suppose that I have. However, you would be a female and introverted version of day dreamer compared to me, male and extroverted. Which is perfectly fine!

I just don’t see that introversion and profound daydreaming necessarily relate. Just sounds like two distinct character features that you happen to have.. at first glance, anyway. I know we have no way to really gauge whether you and I daydream at similar levels or not. Maybe you are way of the charts. Who knows. But as long as you are functional and creating a real life around you, i can’t imagine where the “problem” should come in.

I have a friend who REAL dreams a lot. She’s a sleep-a-holic. Also quite functional. Just don’t interrupt her sleep.. or else! :) But she loves her dreams soooo much. Also knows they aren’t real and stuff but they’re very important to her.

I agree, write this all down, this could be the stuff of genius one day for us all!

Welcome to Fluther.

I had never even heard the term until you used it in your question. It seemed to me (before I googled it) like a combination of terms that might mean something (maybe), but who would care? Like… “potato fetish”, or “uncoordinated running”, or “dystopian Kevin Costner movie”. (Okay, the last is a real thing*, I admit, but it kind of proves my point: Who cares?)

So I looked up the term. Okay, this seems to be a real thing, too. And maybe it’s worth caring about, at least for some people and at some times. And at those times it only seems to be important because of what it indicates about a person’s mental health, and the possible reasons for the escapist daydreams. For example, if you were attempting to escape abuse or deal with past trauma. Maybe you are, but even your question hides that very well. Because it seems to me that you have at least one supportive parent (who I think I would agree with, by the way), and you apparently get along okay in school and other activities, even if you care less for them than for your fantasy world.

Fair enough. I’m in that boat, too, many times. I would also recommend that you not just have these dreams for the ephemeral psychic pleasure that they bring you, but that you write, paint, draw, film or otherwise manifest these things in ways that other people can share them with you. Compared to most of the teens and many of the adults who write here and elsewhere on the web, you seem very adept at that. Keep it up! The world needs more good writers, and even more than that it needs better dreams, I think.

*And maybe the first two things are real, as well. Anyone care?

I don’t see anything horribly maladaptive.

What you’re describing is the same as what many great writers have described about themselves both as children and adults.

Start writing this all down either in a notebook or on the computer. You obviously have a very active imagination which is not a bad thing.

Definitely consider a writing career. Is there an English teacher you could befriend to give you feedback about your writings.

I had a teacher like that in Jr. High and I was constantly bringing him poetry I had written and he’d read it and give me feedback.

I also went on a writing letters to the editor jag and would get his feedback on those before sending them in. I even managed to get quite a few of them published since they had no idea what my age was (and I typed them). Considering that this wasn’t just a little dinky small town paper but Newsday (covering all of Long Island) it did wonders for my self esteem.

Your classmates opinions of you aren’t what counts in the long run. It’s what you accomplish that matters. And there are many passionate writers who started out daydreaming like you and now have huge success because they wrote those daydreams down, developed their skills and eventually got published.

I think you have a diamond in the rough in those daydream characters of yours. Learn good writing skills so you can polish up those diamonds. You may be amazed what you get.

Welcome to Fluther (where proper grammar and spelling are expected and encouraged.)

You’ll fit in here just fine.

You’re not maladaptive. You just haven’t found your niche in life yet.

My first thought was also that you should write it all down. An active imagination is something that should be encouraged and utilized.

At your age, I daydreamed as an escape from my miserable childhood and family (I was abused by a family member), so I simply tried to imagine a ‘normal’ or even a fairy-tale life for myself. I would get so lost in my daydreams that schoolwork didn’t get done, and my parents were always told that I didn’t work to my potential. It was a psychological defense and was a disruption to my participation in the real world. My daydreaming was maladaptive, and continued into my 30s.

Regarding your introversion and social awkwardness, if they are simply inherent traits and you are generally happy other than not fitting in at school, then I wouldn’t worry about it. The typical school environment is a pretty lousy place for introverts. You’ll find that you’ll do better as you get older and are not forced to be in those noisy crowded places as often. The kids that tease you will have zero place in your life soon enough, although I know that while you’re in High School it seems to last forever. You couldn’t pay me to go back.

Does your school have any clubs or extracurricular activities where you might be more likely to meet other introverts? Is there a library nearby where you might join a book club or volunteer reading to kids or even tutoring? Finding activities where you interact with people one-on-one or smaller groups or where you are helping people can be a boost to self-esteem and help build social skills.