It's starting to take over my life.

Hello pixeltiger. I know exactly what you're going through. Everyone of the forum here knows what you're going through. Maladaptive daydreaming starts off as a little distraction. It doesn't do much harm until the longer you have it, the worse it gets. I didn't know what Maladaptive Daydreaming was until I was 13 (I'm 15 now) so it's good that you already know what it is. Maladaptive Daydreaming is mainly used as a coping mechanism for other bad parts of our lives and then ended up taking over our lives and became a bad part that we cannot control. It's good that you're willing to stop this before you end up going into an internal darkness in your head. 


First, you're gonna want to identify what triggers your daydreams but I think you already mentioned that in your post. Next, find the root of cause. Find what could be making you daydream and escape from the real world. Once you find that try and address the problem. You did mention that you going through a life change so that could be why your daydreaming started. I'm though. It's all up to you. It's a good thing that you keep journaling so continue with that. This is one way on trying to manage or control Maladaptive daydreaming that I got from other people on this forum so don't take my word for granted. 

I daydream too whenever the teacher is talking so it's hard for me to focus. I go to school in person 2-3 times a week. I suggest picking up a new hobby that you haven't tried yet and try and stick with it as much as you can. Be consistent as possible. Some good distracting hobbies that can make you focus and take your mind off of daydreaming are things like yoga, exercising, drawing or making art of any sort, playing puzzle or strategy games. I think video games may be a great tool. They tend to keep me occupied and it can be any kind of game and it doesn't matter from which console or mobile device you're playing on. Any body or stretching workout may be good for you since you just sit in front of a computer screen all day. But that's your choice this is just something I do. another thing is write down what you're daydreaming about. I do this sometimes and it helps me not daydream for long periods of time. You can try and time yourself for how long you want to daydream (I tried this several times but it didn't really work for me but may work for you). Tally yourself how many times you daydream a day. I did this when i first found out what Maladaptive Daydreaming was and my result was 20 something tally marks. 

Most of the things I mentioned are things that I do and work for me but if you have any solution of your own that you think might help then try that also. Maladaptive Daydreaming is not fun and it really can start to destroy your life if you don't do something about. I'm trying my best to something about it now and I know it's not gonna be easy. Sooner or later you'll be daydreaming your whole life away and don't want to live in the present no more. You'll start neglecting important things like eating, sleeping, it'll slow you down more, consume most of your time, and sticks with you once it's gotten full control of your head. I've been dealing with this for 5 years now so I know what's going on. You can d a little more research if you like by watching some videos on YouTube and reading some articles on the internet if you like. I recommend this website here: daydreamresearch.wixsite.com/md-research. It'll help with learning more about Maladaptive Daydreaming and he people who are working behind the scenes to find some kind of treatment or sure for this madness of a disorder we all have. 

I hope all this helps and if you eve need anything else, just come to the forum and someone will help you out. Be patient though because responses take some time since we are real human beings going on about our lives. I wish you the best of luck and be safe! :D

From, thedolphinbaby57