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Ask HN: Where does your mind wander to?

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Re: Ask HN: Where does your mind wander to?

#61

Post by hammyhavoc »

sigg3 wrote: post #60
sharkweek wrote: post #23

Oh I got the perfect answer for this one. As someone who (now after about a year of therapy a while back) has my OCD managed, let me tell you what my brain still does with a moment of free time: Visualizes the worst possible scenario of any situation I’m in! Standing in line to get coffee: What happens if I blurt out a racial slur randomly in here? Or what if someone walks in with a gun? What if someone put poison in…

My go to reaction is to remind myself that "if that event happen, I will deal with it then."

That's solid. Taking this for myself. Thank you.

Re: Ask HN: Where does your mind wander to?

#62

Post by bool3max »

sharkweek wrote: post #23

Oh I got the perfect answer for this one. As someone who (now after about a year of therapy a while back) has my OCD managed, let me tell you what my brain still does with a moment of free time: Visualizes the worst possible scenario of any situation I’m in! Standing in line to get coffee: What happens if I blurt out a racial slur randomly in here? Or what if someone walks in with a gun? What if someone put poison in…

Very interesting that you consider uttering a racial slur as one of the worst scenarios that could occur to you while standing in line at a coffee shop.

Re: Ask HN: Where does your mind wander to?

#63

Post by arroz »

t-3 wrote: post #59

I think a lot about words and meanings, and interesting things I've encountered. Like, what is the difference between catenation and concatenation? Why is unravel a word, when ravel means the same thing, and given that unravel has taken over the meaning of ravel, why hasn't ravel come to mean it's opposite? Why was the classical Latin pronunciation of "caesar" preserved in German but not English? Why are the common c…

For “ceaser”, the language of the elite in England was French for some time so might have to do with that

Re: Ask HN: Where does your mind wander to?

#64

Post by hemreldop »

bool3max wrote: post #62
sharkweek wrote: post #23

Oh I got the perfect answer for this one. As someone who (now after about a year of therapy a while back) has my OCD managed, let me tell you what my brain still does with a moment of free time: Visualizes the worst possible scenario of any situation I’m in! Standing in line to get coffee: What happens if I blurt out a racial slur randomly in here? Or what if someone walks in with a gun? What if someone put poison in…

Very interesting that you consider uttering a racial slur as one of the worst scenarios that could occur to you while standing in line at a coffee shop.

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: Where does your mind wander to?

#66

Post by majewsky »

jvanderbot wrote: post #13

- On the malleability of culture, and the absolutely temporary nature of the world order that we think is stable. - On interstellar travel, and how completely bonkers it would be to ride on a steadily-degrading spaceship for a decade, with just enough fuel to stop when you get there, and no more. And what it might take to get our civilization to care enough to try (seems like a terrible calamity is the only way). - I…

> how completely bonkers it would be to ride on a steadily-degrading spaceship

For a moment I thought there was going to be a twist at the end where you describe the people who stayed on Earth.

Re: Ask HN: Where does your mind wander to?

#67

Post by WHA8m »

swores wrote: post #58
WHA8m wrote: post #6

I'm a full-time (adhd-diagnosed) daydreamer. I have a bulk of projects that I can escape to. For all of them I have notes, so when my mind wanders around and I stumble across something that I think is note-worthy, I write it down. Most of these 'projects' (non of which ever came to life) are software related. My currently favorite one is a video game. It has about 60k words in the design document and about 35k safed…

Mind if I ask why none of the projects have ever come to life, is it lack of desire to make them more than an escape technique, or is ADHD or something else preventing you from doing what you would otherwise like to do? I ask because it sounds to me like if you could figure out how to channel all of that energy going into your projects into the right thing then maybe in addition to the escape you might find your diff…

What I'm getting from your comment is, that you really want to understand. Thank you for your kindness. It feels good.

I don't mind you asking, but I'm afraid I can't give you an extensive answer. There is just a lot that is going on for me right now. Adhd is relevant for this insofar I wasn't diagnosed (and didn't know about it) until recent years (I'm in my mid 20s for context). The last 10 years or so really crumbled my self-efficacy, because nothing ever worked out. Deep down I knew I'm generally capable of doing things, but I wasn't able to. Burnout and depression followed and I'm about to get kicked out of university. So these things really are an escape for me and the energy really is just fear and avoidance. It's powerful, but not sustainable.

To end this on a positive note, I still have this feeling that I could function somehow. All of these projects are meant to serve just me (and not be commercially or anything), so there might be a time these things actually come to life. These projects and specifically this video game thing are really something that I feel I can pour my soul into and make it mine. It's really more than just procrastination. I stand by all of what I write down and I think I possibly have new and own ideas about some common aspects. It's a place where I can spend time on my interests in art, architecture, language, tech and more. Just things that are true to myself.

PS: I knew from the start of writing this, I have to be cautious to not fall into self-pity mode, but well, that's just what this turned into. Sorry. It's already written though. I'll hit 'reply' nevertheless. Have a good night!

Edit: Added some more to actually answer the questions.

Re: Ask HN: Where does your mind wander to?

#68

Post by SemanticStrengh »

Agamus wrote: post #42
SemanticStrengh wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very chairwise comment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXW-QjBsruE&t=180s

Thanks for the link! The content of this video is pretty close to the perpetual internal dialogue happening between me and all of my selves. I eventually wrote a book about my findings thus far.

Is there a link to your book?

Re: Ask HN: Where does your mind wander to?

#69

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

SemanticStrengh wrote: post #16
DeathArrow wrote: post #11

Sex, booze, sex, friends, sex,family, sex, books, sex, traveling, sex, science, sex, art, sex, tech, sex, movies, sex, art, sex, sociology, sex, anthropology, sex, big problems of the humankind, sex. In that order. Sometimes I wonder if an Eskimo girl would wear a pink finger ring while listening to Irish folk music while traveling between Mombasa and Easter Island for a conference about mouses who wear green umbrell…

> an Eskimo girl would wear a pink finger ring while listening to Irish folk music while traveling between Mombasa and Easter Island for a conference about mouses who wear green umbrellas. any good absurd movies to recommend anyone? This seems like a good starting point for a scenario

Punch Drunk Love

Re: Ask HN: Where does your mind wander to?

#70

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

jimmygrapes wrote: post #52

I am almost always considering "what did it take to make this thing work, and why did they do it this way?" Sometimes it is at a high level such as UX design or architecture, but more frequently it is akin to "gratitude" strategies where you look at a random object in your life, examine it and consider all the labor and materials and knowledge that went into it. It can get overwhelming: how many screws are in this wi…

Are you seeking work?
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