I caught myself daydreaming again. Just staring out the window letting my mind wander wherever it wanted to go.
Used to do this all the time as a kid. Hours of it. Sitting in class. Laying in bed. Looking out the car window on long drives. My brain would just take off and go somewhere else entirely.
Then I grew up and got busy with work, family and responsibilities. No time for wandering thoughts. Always something demanding my attention. Daydreaming became a luxury I couldn't afford.
Now I'm retired and it's back.
Mostly happens in the afternoons. After a nap. That weird half-awake state where your brain isn't fully online yet. Thoughts just drift with no agenda or direction. Just wandering thoughts.
I daydream about a hodge podge of stuff. The past. Decisions I made. Roads not taken. The present. What I'm working on. What needs to get done. The future. Where things are heading. What I want to accomplish before I take a dirt nap. And random stuff that makes no sense at all. Bits and pieces of nothing stitched together.
Here's the thing though. It's getting kind of bad. Almost as bad as my brain fog now. I'll be reading or studying and catch myself wandering off. Eyes still on the page but the brain is somewhere else entirely. Then I have to go back and reread the same paragraph because nothing stuck.
I've been told I might be ADHD. Don't know about that. Maybe it's just how my brain is wired these days. Sometimes it's productive. It allows me to work through a problem without trying. Ideas show up when not forcing them. Sometimes it's just a distraction. Twenty minutes gone and nothing to show for it except a cold cup of coffee and a book I haven't made any progress on.
I don't fight it anymore and just try to work with it. Study when I'm sharp and let the mind wander when it's going to wander anyway.
Do you daydream? Does your brain wander off when it shouldn't?
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Notes:
-All content is mine unless otherwise annotated.
-Images are my own unless otherwise noted.
-Photos edited using MS Paint and/or iPhone SE.
-Page Dividers from The Terminal Discord.