Last Wednesday I didn't have to come to school until 10:35 and I was really excited to get to sleep in and not have to do all my assignments that night. I didn't stay up super late that night but as always my mind got caught up in a certain topic just before I was about to fall asleep. When my mind gets really set on a topic right before bed, not only does it make me stay up much later, but it always leads to a dream. The dream is always extremely vivid, I feel like I am actually there. The sights and sounds, smells and touches, all feel so real. When I wake up it always takes a few minutes to realize that what just happened was just a dream. When I dream I am pretty much dead.. I won't wake up for anything. I had set my alarm for 9 A.M. and I when I woke up I was confused as to why it was so bright outside. I looked at my clock to see that it was in fact not 9 A.M... No, no, it was 11:45. I had slept through about 3 alarms, and had a missed call from my mom. I kept staring at my alarm waiting for the numbers to tell me they were just kidding and go back to 9:00... But they didn't. I made a familiar facial expression at my clock and let out a long sigh. I wasn't even really that mad.. I was impressed. Anyway, once again, getting lost in my mind had a serious detraction on my day before it even really started.
The research that I found led to some pretty good insights on why I dwell on the larger topics. The article pointed to a kind of anxiety over serious topics, the inability to be clutch when it counts. The article pointed towards sports as an example, highlighting many athletes who had failed to perform in intense moments. Thankfully I have been able to avoid this issue in sports because I'm having fun during games and the stress doesn't get to me. However, as far as academically and socially, I would say this is true. Many times that I get caught up in one of these topics, it's due to some sort of anxiety or stress. This is a problem many people encounter, and the article suggests doing other things to take your mind off it will help. If you distract yourself it will ease the stress and help clear your mind for whatever the activity is.
What I could not find an answer to is why I get so wrapped up in little things. Tons of small questions and intricacies cross my mind daily that I ponder for hours. Every day I wonder about things as trivial as why the sky is blue, how cameras are made, where certain NFL players went to college, and so on. I miss about 75% of my AP Gov assignments because I sit right next to a world map and I pretty much just stare at it and thing about all sorts of topics. Maybe I am just a very curious person, and maybe that's not a bad thing. I just wish I could let go of these questions sometimes. I guess the saying that "ignorance is bliss" carries a lot of truth.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200809/mind-your-body-lost-in-thought
Have you thought about researching sleep patterns or brain chemistry? Maybe there's a sleep stage you are entering that prevents you from hearing the alarm or a brain pattern that makes you obsess over maps?
ReplyDeleteNick I really enjoy your posts. This is really cool to learn about the reasons why you daydream like this. I liked the reference to the map because I experience it first hand. This is awesome!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. I thought it was very interesting to see how distractions have caused you to lose focus on many things in life. I thought it was a good idea to start off with an example of you getting distracted in your dreams in the very first paragraph. This definitely relates to me because I feel like sometimes I get very distracted by something when i need to pay attention to something important or do my homework.
ReplyDeleteYeah I pretty much day dream all the time too so this blog related to me pretty well. I really like your examples and when I was in Mrs. Lawson s class I also looked at that map everyday.
ReplyDeleteHaha I sleep through my alarm all the time! Idont think its because of a dream. In fact its probably due to the fact that i love to sleep. I really enjoyed reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there is a sound or feeling that can wake you in even the deepest of slumbers. Reading your blog is always interesting, keep it up.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really good blog. I had always wondered what you were doing starring at that map. I also find my self zoning out sometimes so your blogs are easy for me to relate to. Keep up the good work.
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