When you zone out & someone interrupts you, how do you react?

[Soup]

Many of us tend to zone out on occasion. Some call it spacing out or use some other name. Basically, it refers to shutting yourself off from any outside stimulation. You might physically isolate yourself or it may happen while you're in a bustling public space. Some of us stim while zoned out, some completely stop doing anything at all & some go into an auto-pilot state where the body continues performing its tasks but nobody's home.

What happens when someone either accidentally or deliberately interferes with you? Maybe a clutz bumps into you & mumbles a 'Sorry about that' or if someone hard headed (who should know better) keeps trying to get you to engage with them. What do you say? How do you react? How does it affect your zone out session?

 

[Margaretha]

I feel disoriented and don't know what to say. It's awkward. When someone bumps into me I always say "I'm sorry". I don't know why, it's just automatic.

 

[Csutelan]

I also apologize when people bumb into me regardless of whose fault it is. It is almost as if I am apologizing for my existence. I also tend to zone out under certain circumstances. Often I will find myself staring at some object while inwardly working on some issue or considering some thought.

 

[fjord]

I'm zoned out a lot of the time, just processing or thinking. If someone interrupts me I feel angry or confused, but try to avoid responding with annoyance. A blank stare is better than anger, right? The problem is I don't notice someone's talking to me until they're far into their speech, and I usually have to ask them to start over. I've tried to train my kids to get my attention, including eye contact, before starting their question or statement. In public, I tend to stand in people's way without knowing it or smash my cart into things. One time my hand bumped into a football celebrity (without recognizing him, of course). My husband was horrified. Ha!

 

[HelloDizzy]

I keep staring and I go "Hmmm?"
Sometimes I can't break out of my zoning. I can get catatonic.

 

[Spinning Compass]

It's interesting because in theater many actors "zone out" before going onstage and it is considered very rude to interrupt them. I didn't know that until my last play. There was a young as in immature actor who kept coming backstage and trying to engage a couple of the older actors in clowning around with him. After he left, one of them told me "So and so is very talented but he has a lot to learn." And that's when he told me that rule about not interfering if you see an actor sitting backstage and just "zoning out."

There was one guy who used to go into such deep trances pre-show that it scared me. It was his way of preparing to go onstage.

 

[HelloDizzy]

I wonder if my trancing is similar to me prepping to go on stage. Like, preparing to interact.

 

[King_Oni]

If.. .and that's a big if... I zone out, if I'm reading something mostly I don't even notice a lot around me. People could probably play a horn and I wouldn't really notice it... I'm that far in.

But if I'm being pulled out of it I tend to get rather violent towards people who bothered me up to the fact where I might injure them... or worse. Maybe it's because I actually enjoy zoning out and it's hard for me to reach that state. It's one of the things why I cannot deal with people needing my attention "out of the blue".

 

[Cerulean]

Zoning out for me is being completely still and silent with some pretty intense staring at a particular spot. I hate when something gets between me and my comfortable staring spot and I'll jerk out of it, annoyed. If someone just says something to me, it takes a minute to register the external stimulus and I just kind of slowly turn toward them with a blank stare. I can apparently be quite creepy. I do wish people would get off my back about the staring though. For some reason after I eat lunch I always do it for awhile and it just annoys people. I'm not hurting anyone so why's it such a big deal

 

[Ylva]

I hate being interrupted when I'm focused, whether inward or outward.

 

[AsheSkyler]

I am grumpy and a wee disoriented. I don't enjoy somebody breaking my concentration. One reason why I automatically leave a website that has those annoying "GIVES ME FEEDBACKS NOWZ" pop ups. I give them "feedback" alright...

 

[StephF]

My response is usually "Huh , what ? " then get a little tetchy. I'm usually concentrating on something, it may LOOK like I'm not doing anything but my mind is usually focused.

 

[AGXStarseed]

Zoning out normally happens to me either when I'm listening to music through my headphones or on my own in the kitchen (the kitchen always seems to be a good spot for my zone-outs).
When I do zone out, I'm normally watching mind movies while it's inter-crossed with vibrant patterns and other thing in my imagination depending on what I've currently got in my mind or the song I'm listening to (it's difficult to explain). Furthermore, my body just starts going on autopilot - flapping and jumping and swirling, etc.
I don't zone out completely - as I tend to keep an eye open time-to-time in case anyone is coming so I don't risk causing an accident or in case someone has started watching me.

If someone interrupts me physically by touching or grabbing or hitting me, they normally complain at me and tell me to stop acting like 'an idiot' (mainly my siblings here) - after which I get really annoyed with them both for interrupting my zone out and for their insults but don't say anything as there's often no point in me trying to explain.
My mum is more tolerant and often ignores me or gently moves me out of the way if she's in a hurry or stressed. In this case I'm less annoyed about been interrupted and generally put the zoning out on hold while I try help my mum with anything I may be able to help her do.

Other times, I get interrupted by someone shouting of me - either because they need me for something or to tell me to stop because the movements my body is making during my zoning out is apparently too noisy (such as me jumping around or breathing heavily). The second option winds me up more than the first.