maladaptivedaydreamer-aid - Tumblr blog

[maladaptivedaydreamer-aid]

Day 2

This day was better I guess: I studied for 3 hours - then 1hour of nothing - then another 1 hour of studying: so a total of 4 hour; optimally I should be doing 10 hours for a perfect score but... Idk, Imma keep tryin to get there.

What is still working:

- Morning studies

- online class rooms (cam on)

- phone alarm away from bed so I have to get up to get it then go straight to the bathroom to wash up

- No morning relax time (cuz it only serves as a distraction)

- writing this blog in the morning (gives me a sense of commitment.

- wake up and sleep fixed times (give me a sense of control)

Not sure:

- I am a religious person - when I started to get fidgety/annoyed with studying and needed to get up I put on some religious music (I cannot daydream to religious music, but at the same time it’s quite enjoyable so I guess I was able to last longer?). Music while studying is something I’m not too sure about, sometimes it helps, sometimes it worsens sooooo I guess I need a bit more trial/error to figure that out.

[maladaptivedaydreamer-aid]

Day 1 of anti-daydreaming journey - LMAO

Yeah... Not a complete shit day like before - but still kinda shitty?

What works:

- Early Morning study (studied 2.5 hours no distractions 6:30-9:00AM) definitely productive.

- Putting alarm away from bed then straight to bathroom (as a morning anti-daydreaming wake up routine)

- Online classroom (camera ON)

- writing this for you guys (well, at this point, no one is reading it yet but whatever)

- keeping curtains open (so people can see me not studying, lol)

- wake up and sleep times 5:30AM and 10:00PM (gives at least some sense of control - no sleeping in the afternoon)

What doesn’t work:

- taking 1 hour in the morning before studying: Usually I finish breakfast/shower/clean and all that in 30minutes - the remaining 30 are just wasted time for me to get distracted and daydream = schedule switch: I’ll start studying at 6AM (wake up at 5:30)

- taking 10minute breaks: everything went haywire after my 10minute break at 9AM - Daydreaming spiraled from there, I’ll try not to take breaks tomorrow till lunch. Let’s hope lunch break doesn’t have the same effect.

Still unsure if helps or not:

- does slow music while studying help or not?

-alpha waves sounds while studying (don’t kill me... this may be a psych thing)

- daily daydream breaks?

Okay I guess that’s what I have for now. See ya tomorrow!

[maladaptivedaydreamer-aid]

Prep day

I decided to stop trying to study today: It was not working I was too distracted and almost intentionally daydreaming/watching random YouTube/reading random AO3 to avoid studying.

Actually I started reading AO3/watching YouTube to try and cut down daydreaming - and figured this won’t work cuz I’m just switching between the two not actually doing anything productive.

Tomorrow’s plan:

Phone alarm: @5:30AM - put my phone away from bed with endless snooze so I have to get up to get it

Promised myself to go straight to bathroom - not back to bed where I will probably daydream again - and no morning music (daydream trigger)

I need to do something to prevent daydreaming or distraction before I start studying at 6:30AM and not YouTube/AO3 - something enjoyable but grounding in reality (can’t think of anything now, I’ll see tomorrow)

I’ll do Online live study group on discord (or other sites, whatever is available with real people at 6AM LMAO) starting 6:30AM WITH camera turned ON the whole day except breaks - so I’m not too comfortable (=start daydreaming): I think this will be one of the most effective methods, maybe I can start my own study room with you guys at some point, idk, we’ll see. 

If all goes well - lunch break at 12:30 - I’ll try to push thru and not take breaks till then (the pomodoro technique DOES NOT WORK for me, 10minute breaks every hour are too distracting and are never actually just 10minutes)

I might nap but since lunch is free hour to do whatever I’ll probably be on phone or daydreaming, unless I’m with friends, but usually I try to escape friends to go back to room - so I now Promise that my lunch break will be 1-2 hours max (maybe I’ll try to stop distractions 15minutes before? We’ll see if that works, I’ll let you know)

Dinner break at 7:30 - I’ll write to you guys then (I’ll try to make it 1 hour - 1hr 30minutes - see if cutting off distractions 15minutes before I have to restart studying works)

Study for 2 more hours then call it a day - hopefully - these last 2 hours are easy reviews (not learning new concepts or solving questions - I’ll be talking to myself the whole time out loud - that I found works in stopping daydreaming if I can commit myself to it)

[maladaptivedaydreamer-aid]

About

Hi everyone... so I have an important exam in 40 days and it sucks because I have successfully diagnosed myself as a maladaptive daydreamer. I need to control my maladaptive daydreaming situation at least until I take the exam; I thought I would write this blog to monitor my progression daily and hopefully help others - if I succeed.

I will include short, straight to the point description of the methods I’m actually using, and if they are working or not; I have done a tone of research regarding maladaptive daydreaming (I will not mention that here, you can google it, but I’ll definitely answer questions if you ask). Also I think telling you I am doing something helps me actually commit to it which I think is one of the methods that will be successful in helping me control this.

Friendly interaction is welcomed - unfriendly ones will be politely ignored.