Do you ever try to escape reality? And how?

[SPLinux 374]

Pretty much video games, and Linux for me. I know there’s so many problems in our world, so i just dont think about them too much and it doesn’t depress me too much. I focus on the positives about life.

[N8C8 56]

Escape? I'm already out! I write. Writing is an amazing way to do it, because you are writing the story, and anything can happen. You can do anything you want, really.

[Mephala 2,633]

I have depersonalization disorder, depression, and depression, so half the time it's like I'm in a dream anyways.

But I like to also lose myself in novels (particularly the A Song of Ice and Fire series) and play video games. I get VERY into video games.

Oh, and I RP a lot, but that makes me depressed

Writing poems helps too, and murdering all my novel characters XD

[Envy 6,000]

I listen to music, and play my bassoon or tenor saxophone. (Tenor saxophone especially since I have no pressure with it right now).

 

Serious answer (and by serious, I do really mean serious.):

 

Oh, I've tried. Or I should say it just happened from not being able to accept reality. As of five years ago I have come to pretend that everything is just now a bad nightmare that I will someday wake up from. That obviously isn't reality, but I have not been able to snap myself out of it.

 

Actually that's what it is for me now. Before this last January I had myself wrapped up in religion and thought that God would help me or that I'd at least have an afterlife. I got caught up in that thought and effectively escaped reality. It's funny, I thought that if I ever went back to atheism I would not be able to hold myself together, but here I am still stuck in this mindset even though I don't believe in God or anything better. The reason being probably that I know it's too late now.

 

[Squid 100]

Sometimes I make myself have lucid dreams.

 

Not exactly to escape reality, I love my life, it's more just to amuse myself, I like to be able to do fantastic things in weird lands.

 

By carefully concentrating, I can initiate a dream where I am fully aware of the dream, and have the ability to control it. It's terribly good fun.

I start by getting in a comfortable position on my bed, then I imagine some sort of big object that might spin, such as a merry-go-round.

Next, I imagine the object spinning, very slowly at first, be gradually increasing the speed to get it as fast as possible.

It is important to stay focused on the spinner and on your will to have control over your dream. Never let your mind wonder.

Once you have the spinner going as fast as you can imagine, let go of the image of it and clear your mind to total blackness, and let yourself float of to where ever your mind takes you.

 

I find that the spinner sort of works as though it's some dream engine starting up your world, somehow, it just makes everything work better. Letting go of that image sort of flings you off to someplace.

 

After a second of being flung off, you should be someplace, just let a place fill your mind. If you don't like it, try imagining how you would like it, and it should be so, fill it with what ever you like.

 

Often times, I like to repeat the spinner process by imaging a bed, sleeping in it, then starting a dream within a dream. It can help to make things more clear. I repeat the process until I am satisfied.

 

Once you're all happy having fun with what ever you find yourself doing, or whatever you wanted to do, it might be useful to imagine a mind's eye within your dream. Since a dream happens within your minds eye, if you think of anything happening, it will actually be happening in the dream because your mind's eye is imagining it. That way you can think about something before you actually do it. He he xD

 

And yeah, that's my guide to dreaming, it works well enough for me. I hope I was not too confusing.

[Tdroid 234]

Well, that depends on how you define reality. The worlds in games or books, for example, are real if you think about it for a moment. It is created by someone for a specific purpose, using materials from the real world in combination with a humans ability to imagine a world different from the one they live in. All things one consider things you use to "escape from reality", is a product of reality so you cannot escape it.

 

Of course, what I know most people mean when they say this is that they do something that allows them to think about something else than their social, economical etc. situation they have to deal with. This is something I do quite often, being a somewhat shy guy who doesn't open up to others that often

[NavelColt 22,876]

Sleep.

 

It seems funny but in today's day and age, with everything moving at a faster pace, and stress being around everything all the time, sleep is one of the best ways to just tell life to screw off for a little while.

[Steve 290]

smoking weed, thats the stuff man

 

listening to music, my mind just drifts away, its so fun to dream while im listening to the music

[Moon Rat 4,772]

In all honesty, yes... I am consistently trying to escape reality by coming on here and posting, playing video games, talking with Brony friends online whenever I can

 

Sometimes, I will even try to clear my head by going out for a walk

[LensFlare 40]

In the summer I drive across the city to a nice park with a river running through it. There is a great spot where I'll sit under this tree for hours just listening to the water flow. Helps to clear my head being around nature.  Sadly, it's winter now and the river is frozen over, so lately I've been playing the piano again. It's really great how you can just lose your thoughts in the music.

[Zacharias 191]

Anything I do with a computer is an escape from reality to me. I usually watch youtube videos or work on FiM game soundtracks. And play on my PS2 every once in a while.

[Just some guy 1,070]

Normally,I'd just play video games to escape reality,but I always find myself daydreaming for a good long while,especially if I'm listening to music.I do this on a daily basis almost,it's at the point where I can daydream without even realizing it.I almost came in late for a couple of classes because I didn't hear the bell until the next class started sitting down.

[Minath Khalsi 195]

I think everyone tries to escape reality, in one waqy or another, even if the don't realize they're trying to. The way I do, is reading about a world very unlike my own. If it resembles something like things I've done, I'll close the book. And of course, ponies.

[EldarSteve 119]

Any mind altering substance. From booze to blow. However I find that good 'ol fashioned marijuana is my best release from the doldrums of life.

[Kazuki Fuse 534]

I'll admit I've used a number of illicit substances as a temporary escape. I've cut down a fair bit, but its still my number one escape. Besides that, I'd say reading or writing.

[TheLoneyPony 34]

Without some escapism I probably would have put a bullet in my head years ago, seriously real life can be very depressing sometimes.

Hmm, I do get some very bad depression some times and I have thought about what happened if I we're to just disappear. Although, if it weren't for one of my cousins I would of gone absolutely mad, he is my only friend. As it turns out just recently he was thinking of taking his own life, he even wrote a suicide note! If he had done that I would of absolutely lost it.

 

My escapism is in the form of music, and gaming. FiM had massively helped my depression problem, I still get serious depression but nowhere near as often.

Edited January 11, 2013 by TheLoneyPony

[Jymm 49]

I do everything I can to keep reality away. Whether it's watching MLP or Gundam, playing video games, listening to music and playing my bass guitar. Sometimes I even create fantasy worlds in my mind to help me escape from reality, as suffering from depression and being disabled is too much to cope with sometimes. 

[Cloud Dreamsprint 8]

I am prone to moments of extreme depression, usually when I think about the future. My one true fear is becoming a complete failure at life. 

Escapism is how I get through this, I watch MLP, I write fanfics, I read, I draw (Horribly ) and I play video games. I sometimes just have entire days (When I'm here by myself)where I go outside and just bounce a ball around and imagine myself in a different world, I world that is created entirely by my imagination and to suit the things that I love to do.

Another thing I do, and this may sound weird, I act out both sides of a conversation. If theres a girl that I'm interested in asking out, I practice for a long time with myself trying to get everything perfect, which usually leads to an overly-gratuitous 'Would you like to go out sometime' moment. But hey, it all helps.

 

Ohh and I also read a lot of Comic books and graphic novels, I'm exited for my Deluxe edition of Empowered coming in the mail anyday now :D

Edited January 10, 2013 by Cloud Dreamsprint

[Skrinky 25]

As soon as I get the things done that I need to, now I go to bed and lucid dream. It's a lot of fun and now I actually get more than two hours of sleep a night... that's new for me.

[Shanks 10,811]

Hmm, I do get some very bad depression some times and I have thought about what happened if I we're to just disappear, and that none of my family would even care    etc. Although, if it weren't for one of my cousins I would of gone absolutely mad, he is my only friend. We are quite similar despite a 3 year age difference (He's 16, I'm 13). As it turns out just recently he was thinking of taking his own life, he even wrote a suicide note! If he had done that I would of absolutely lost it.

 

My escapism is in the form of music, and gaming. FiM had massively helped my depression problem, I still get serious depression but nowhere near as often.

How it would affect my family is one of the main things that prevented from actually going through with that, I just didn't want to put them through that kind of pain. I hope your cousin gets the help he needs, I have had tragedies in my family so I know what kind of hell that sort of thing can put someone through.

[Virulence 254]

To escape reality, I usually come home and either play mindless video games or Just be on my computer (MLP forums, Youtube, Amazon, Etc) Or if it's a really distressing day, I go to sleep.

[StargazerDC 24]

I just sit, take my headphones and play music I like. A new world opens to me, exactly the world I want, I lose every connection with reality. I do this for few hours every day. It's great.

[Scootalove 10,684]

When I get caught in the world of video games, i just lose focus on everything else.

Plus Watching TV and Sleep, put me out of reality's grip on me.

[Future Allie Way 185]

Wow, reading the replies, I feel like my way of "escaping reality" is weird xD

I always take in many details about my surroundings and turn them into problems. So, I usually just curl up into a ball on my bed, put on my headphones, play music on my iPod, close my eyes, and talk to myself.

ALLIE WHAAT

[SilverStarApple 849]

I use My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, the internet, video games, books, writing, and dreams where I control everything, which is like writing, but it feels more real.

 

But all of these techniques, these tools, these mindless acts of escapism, they all feel more real than real life.

 

I don't feel alive when in reality. I'm just... sad, bored, and stalling to waste time all day, so I can get back home, avoid my family, and resume internetting.