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Ashamed Of Having an Imagination

Does anyone else feel ashamed when they daydream/imagine stuff?

Like, I'll think about a favorite character of mine and then my brain will go: "You're too fat and weird to think about this character."
Yes, I had a lot of guilt around daydreaming. All My school reports as a child said I daydreamed "too much". Since diagnosis I allow myself to fully emerse in daydreaming on a regular basis! It feels SO good! Freeing
 
You should be proud of it and treasure it.
Children these days are being brought up on tablets and smartphones. Those ones don't get to experience much imagination. Teens, adults, whatever... have also had their imaginative ability greatly reduced... if not killed off by the internet.
"I imagine what x thing would be like" has been replaced with:
Search engine: what x thing is like.
Yes! I read somewhere recently that the smartphone/internet age has really damaged imagination in some ways. I really agreed with the theory that If people never experience the natural feeling of boredom anymore, there is no motivation for creativity, no spark ignites it. I found that when I got off commercial social media, I started painting and writing again
 
I used to feel ashamed about it when I was a kid. Now I find myself daydreaming when I have nothing else to do. Sometimes I use daydreaming to plan ahead and make improvements in my life. I get a little angry when people interrupt my daydreaming but after I have dealt with them I get back to whatever I was thinking about.
 
You're forgetting something, "This character secretly loves fat weird people over others."

Eh. I don't really imagine myself, per say. I use proxies. Most of the time, they're canon characters I've hijacked and edited (Kid/Red Devil, Tigra, Miki Makimura, etc,.). I have a few self creations, but even THEY'RE unoriginal, to some extent.
 
Does anyone else feel ashamed when they daydream/imagine stuff?

Like, I'll think about a favorite character of mine and then my brain will go: "You're too fat and weird to think about this character."

A long time ago, when i was a kid, I really had a hard time with that. The stuff I thought about when I was stemming in particular. I used to bounce and twirl all the time. I don't know how many mattresses or silver chains I went thru.

anyway, I would always imagine being really good at something or people actually wanting to be my friend, and of course my imaginary friends.
I would get so embarrassed when people "caught" me doing that or asked about it
 
I’m embarrassed by my imagination...in the sense that I’d never tell anyone how active it is—except for you guys, my fellow autistics. I’ve read books nonstop my entire life and have always lived in my head. I much preferred and loved playing alone when I was a kid (my imagination and fantasy life were more than enough company), and the characters in my favorite novels were more real to me and more my friends than most of the actual people in my life.

The other day, I dropped my bag by the elevator at work and Treasure Island and a huge book about frogs and toads tumbled out. I felt a little embarrassed because I thought the books exposed my “overactive” imagination and made me look “immature” and childlike. Kids are allowed to have huge imaginations and fantasy lives. Adults are not. The Treasure Island book especially made me feel strange. I’ve read it so many times, over and over, and I know that’s highly unusual (read: highly autistic) and that as an adult I’m not supposed to be defending the stockade from a pirate attack or hanging out with Long John Silver in the ship’s kitchen,... And I’m probably not supposed to spend hours reading my frog book either or know that the South American Bullfrog is the prettiest of the 77 species in the genus Leptodactylus or that I imagine in great detail going on a “frog tour” around the world. Most of the people I encounter spend their time watching TV and posting selfies on Facebook. Apparently that’s normal.

So yes, my imagination is something I keep hidden for the most part.
 
If anybody asks me why or how l know this weird fact, l say it's because l am a writing a novel or a screenplay. I actually have the bones of a screenplay , just need to color it in. I have been fascinated by masking, alternately men put on latex masks or complete latex bodies and then live as females. It's enthralling because l have spent most of my life cursing being female and here are a group of people who need to be feminine. Also, l was at a car shop that installs breathalyzer in your car and one of the tests is to hum into machine, l am thinking how hilarious to have to hum to get your car to start, there is a comedy routine there somewhere! So my imagination is off and running everyday at how the world appears to us.
 
If anybody asks me why or how l know this weird fact, l say it's because l am a writing a novel or a screenplay. I actually have the bones of a screenplay , just need to color it in. I have been fascinated by masking, alternately men put on latex masks or complete latex bodies and then live as females. It's enthralling because l have spent most of my life cursing being female and here are a group of people who need to be feminine. Also, l was at a car shop that installs breathalyzer in your car and one of the tests is to hum into machine, l am thinking how hilarious to have to hum to get your car to start, there is a comedy routine there somewhere! So my imagination is off and running everyday at how the world appears to us.

Wait, you met men dressed up in latex costumes resembling women, or is this just your story idea?
 
Wait, you met men dressed up in latex costumes resembling women, or is this just your story idea?

It's a thing :)
It's big business for the manufacturer.
The men like to wear them, the manufacturer can make and supply them.
Can't see much amiss in that equation :)

In the film based on the novel by Thomas Harris (Silence of the Lambs) the character nicknamed Buffalo Bill used the skin of real women to create his identity suit.

Batman fought crime as, well,
a bat :) (in a bat suit)
 
It's a thing :)
It's big business for the manufacturer.
The men like to wear them, the manufacturer can make and supply them.
Can't see much amiss in that equation :)

In the film based on the novel by Thomas Harris (Silence of the Lambs) the character nicknamed Buffalo Bill used the skin of real women to create his identity suit.

Batman fought crime as, well,
a bat :) (in a bat suit)

I’ll be darned. I’m trying to imagine what that would look like.
 
I’ll be darned. I’m trying to imagine what that would look like.

I think there was a (UK) Channel Four Documentary on the tele'
the title was something like 'Living Dolls'
sorry, don't do links. may have to search it to satisfy your curiosity :)
 
Just a little. I dream about having adventures with my imaginary BF, and I would often write fanfics about us coping with daily life (including a NSFW story). I usually keep these fanfics private because I don't want too many people thinking I'm weird having him in my life, even though I told a few people that I had imaginary SO's in the past.

In school, I would daydream a lot, and make doodles based on my daydreams. I would get caught every once in a while, but otherwise I had fun.

In one of my old jobs, I actually got in trouble daydreaming while another co worker was trying to teach me how to do receptionist work.

Overall, I do like daydreaming, but not if it gains unwanted attention.
 
If living in my imagination makes me happy and doesn't harm anyone i don't see what's wrong with it. Other people don't have to know anything you don't want them to know. You don't owe anyone any excuses for something that makes you happy.
 
I can't imagine NOT daydreaming pretty much 24/7. Seriously, I don't know what it's like to not constantly have stories and images playing in your head while you go about your daily life. It completely baffles me that some people are just...alone, in their own heads, focused on the world around them. I can barely even imagine what that's like! :eek:
 

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