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Zoning out?

I zone out, but it is usually when no one is needing me for something, or there is nothing important for me to focus on.

Meetings where I am just an audience to the proceedings-zone out looking at something.

Riding a bus, or in a car- zone out the window.

Windows are bad, I can't help looking out, don't know why, or what I'm thinking about, just zoned out.

Then there are the times when I'm overloaded. I will sit in a darkened room and just look at some dusky shape.

I meditate, and this is something different from meditation, it is my brain at ease.
 
I think my zone-out requirement accumulates like snow on a steep mountain-side, it gets stored up there until something triggers it. For me it can be a way to get my energy ready when I know the stress of a social event is coming up, (even the dreaded required phone call).
 
I have a thinking job that requires solving some rather complex problems. The ability to zone out and shut everything else out really helps me to figure things out. There is a down side, I am always losing tool and parts that are in plain sight. I usually work in a warehouse and I'm always going out to my truck for something, only to forget what I came for.
 
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clg114 said:
I have a thinking job that requires solving some rather complex problems. The ability to zone out and shut everything else out really helps me to figure things out. The is a down side, I am always losing tool and parts that are in plain sight. I usually work in a warehouse and I'm always going out to my truck for something, only to forget what I came for.
Click to expand...

Walking through doorways causes forgetting, new research shows // News // Notre Dame News // University of Notre Dame

I feel better about this happening to me now that I understand it as
a filing situation. Once the information is filed and retrieval is necessary,
I need to make the data accessible. Sometimes that means walking back out
and then in again.
 
tree said:
Walking through doorways causes forgetting, new research shows // News // Notre Dame News // University of Notre Dame

I feel better about this happening to me now that I understand it as
a filing situation. Once the information is filed and retrieval is necessary,
I need to make the data accessible. Sometimes that means walking back out
and then in again.
Click to expand...

I've read about that phenomenon. I worked in a fabrication shop that had a good sized walk in closet for a tool room. Graffiti on the wall:

DESTINESIA: What did I come in here for?
 

Sometimes when I go out to the barn I take a note with me:
Get Bread from freezer....or whatever I want to remember to do out there.
And not put the note in my pocket.
Hold it in my hand or
pin it to me (yeah, like in kdg)

Otherwise, just say out loud what I am going to do.
Repeatedly.
 
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Yes, I zone out, both the intense concentration to the exclusion of all else kind, and the daydreaming kind. I zone out when people are speaking to me and miss what they are saying, and I totally zone out at social events for longer periods of time and miss the whole conversation. Sometimes I'm so deep in thought that I don't notice a person come into the room, or someone says something to me, and I don't notice. I wouldn't quite say the the house could burn down without my noticing as was suggested by somenone earlier, I think I'd notice that. Or at least, I hope so.
 
I think I zone out more now than, say, twenty or thirty years ago. Originally I put it down to getting older, now I'm not so sure. Shopping lists were always a necessity, but now they are pointless as I've forgotten I have one by the time I get there. Not hearing people because I am focused on something else is a big issue.
 
Yeah, I'm kind of a "space cadet" when it comes do zoning out. When people are talking to me my mind will frequently go off on a tangent from what they are saying and I need to snap myself back to the real world. I often have to ask people to repeat themselves. When I am focused on a task it is also really difficult to get my attention, and though I sometimes try, I really cannot multitask. And I can just sit and stare off into space for long periods, either daydreaming or just watching the world around me go out of focus. Zoning out can be impractical at times, but it is mostly quite pleasant.
 
These days I don't think I ever really "zone out" other than simply nodding off from a lack of sleep.
 
I sometimes do that and spend the whole day doing exercise I don't know why. I have got out of the bed many nights to go running. When I feel the call for something, I have to get it done, which is kind of heavy cause I mess up a lot.
 
Soup said:
One of my Aspie skills is the ability to completely zone out. Sometimes I get a few spacey days (like yesterday & today) where I'm sort of on auto-pilot doing what I have to do but not being truly present.
Click to expand...

I used to do this when I was in my 20's. I'd get in my car after work and then I'd be home with no recollection as to how I got there and an hour had passed ... the exact length of time for my commute.

This scared me because i hated not knowing. I also worried about the possibility of accidents. Surely it wasn't safe to drive this way? I eventually stopped doing this by developing the habit of always focusing on what I was doing as I drove.
 
DC1346 said:
I used to do this when I was in my 20's. I'd get in my car after work and then I'd be home with no recollection as to how I got there and an hour had passed ... the exact length of time for my commute.

This scared me because i hated not knowing. I also worried about the possibility of accidents. Surely it wasn't safe to drive this way? I eventually stopped doing this by developing the habit of always focusing on what I was doing as I drove.
Click to expand...

That is a very good idea. We would all be safer if everyone would focus on driving while behind the wheel.
 
My brain can shut down for periods of time but I don't know whether that is "zoning out" or petit mal epilepsy.
 
BIMOG said:
My brain can shut down for periods of time but I don't know whether that is "zoning out" or petit mal epilepsy.
Click to expand...

I wonder that about myself. I've had a few grand mal seizures sprinkled throughout my life. How to be sure that zoning out isn't something more?
 
I like to retreat into my "Mind labyrinth" a lot. It's much too boring in the 'real world'. My mom calls it Bianca Land. Not many people understand.
 
Yeah that's very common for me. Part of the reason I have such difficulty working is because I can't usually control when I zone out. It takes a lot of concentration to remain lucid(?) so I have to be careful when out in public. Also the reason I don't drive.
 
The petit mal epilepsy thing is interesting because I had a few absence seizures while at school, mainly in assembly. I got told off for not concentrating and one occasion I slumped down and was unaware of it as as far as I knew I was still sitting upright and listening to the head teacher. My parents never took me to the doctor about it even though there are others with epilepsy on my dad's side of the family. One of my sisters had the same thing at school and my other younger sister 'fainted' twice but I do wonder if the other time was actually a seizure. I have never had it since but I do zone out a lot and my default mental state is pretty zoned out. I have to concentrate really hard to make myself really conscious and lucid of my surroundings.
 
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