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Do you ever feel like you live in a different world to everyone else?

I'm just curious to know if other people feel the same way.

I often go through life feeling like most people are extremely limited and I struggle to understand their motivations for things. I'm not someone who can get hyped up about music, movies etc.

I can enjoy simple pleasures, food, nature, good conversation, but mostly I find people inane and superfluous. I'm not sure if it's my dyspraxia that alienates me or my intellect. I feel like i overthink everything since my brain never switches off.

Let me know your thoughts (and feelings), feel free to ask me any questions as well!

Insatiapaul 4 Aug 12
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23 comments

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2

Yes. I do live in a different world. I'm just a spectator. I'm not participating. I get very jealous. Everybody is traveling the world while I'm ill. Seeing all their posts on facebook of beautiful places and things I will never see , I cry almost constantly. I don't understand why they get to have this extraordinary life and I don't. Everything just passes me by. One of my best friends just took a Baltic cruise and is now in Greece. Another just got back from Alaska. Another is leaving on a Caribbean cruise layer in the week... etc. Etc. I'm sick in bed. In pain. My travels include the clinic and hospital. I feel p like I've wasted my life and now it's gone. The emotional distress is almost too much to bare. Why do other people have such wonderful lives and I don't? If I were religious I would think I must have committed a great sin or perhaps it is all god's plan but I know this is not true. I haven't been bad. I don't deserve to be punished. Yet I'm so depressed.

I know it’s of little comfort, but your circle of friends are far from the norm. The world travelers are a minority really, many people never leave the town they are born in. Perhaps at one time you also traveled? If so, you have memories many will never have. I am sorry you have medical problems, I have a dear friend who is in the same boat. And she is a believer, it gives her little comfort. I wish you well, and hope you find some comfort in knowing that you are not alone in your suffering, but one of many who deal with the frailties of the human body.

@Barnie2years forgive my self absorption. I've just been so depressed lately. I do realize I'm not alone. Every time I go to the clinic, I see people who are shadows of their former selves. I think that is adding to my depression.

1

Kind of an existential pondering, I think? Have you ever read The Stranger, by Albert Camus?

I haven't. I'll give it a go, thanks

@Insatiapaul it's an interesting read, and not too long and ponderous. It does require some mulling over, though.

1

Daily. Constantly.
I had a woman try to tell me about her shoes today. What??? Who even cares?
I struggle to find common ground with anybody I meet except at food festivals and trade shows....at least we can talk about food. Past that...it gets really difficult.
Most people around me are in the same town they were born in.
They are like a completely different species and I generally have no idea how they live as they do.
I spent my life in a male dominated career fields so I never was well socialized with women....I was always working with their husbands/boyfriends so I was automatically perceived as a threat and automatically treated with hostility.
But, that also means I've been subjected to men being absolute sexist asses for 30+ years.....so, I'm distrustful of men and their motives also.
It makes for a lonely existence.

Great to know that I'm not the only one who struggles with inane and superfluous things!

2

I was in a shopping mall yesterday and it was the loneliest I've felt in a long time. Just the amount of bad treatment people give each other, to children, to themselves. It literally felt like hell.

It's not a healthy society

1

Everybody's world is a different world or else we wouldn't be individuals.

Yet everyone's must have a lot in common or else we'd not all be humans

0

It's very tempting but dangerous think of yourself as alienated from others as a result of your high intellect.... It's a very ego inflating proposition which comforts you and allows you ignore any genuine investigations into why you fell alienated.... Alienation is a term I'm going to use as a convenient noun for the experience you are having, you may disagree with the exact wording but bear with me.... And find a better word if you feel you need to.

So firstly, yes I too feel the sense of inhabiting a different wolds to others AND I find it hard at times to be aware of the inner workings of others - most of the time in fact. I think alienation applies more strongly to the second experience.

However if anything this alienation can only be the result of too little intellect, not too much, because to not see the humanity of others around you is to be lacking somewhat in the mental capacity to do so... It may agkso be linked to a lack of empathy.

However, there are other causes as well which are nothing to do with intellect. For example the entire system of politics and economics you livenunder causes and relies on a sense of alienation from others.

I won't go into all the dynamics of it, but "divide and rule" would be a vital 3 word starting point.... From there look at how the press try to create Islamophobia, anti immigrant feeling, also look at your work place, alienation arises from your working conditions where you are treated as a machine rather than a human being.

All these factors mean that it's VITAL for you to find ways of fighting your inner sense of alienation, because the more alienated you feel, the more easily you will be manipulated and lied to by the system.

As an addenda to this.... The first feeling, just of "otherworldness" that is a very interesting feeling, which I would distinguish strongly from alienation.

I've experienced it increasingly strongly as more people in my life have passed away.

I think it's put this world onto a more trivial and obscure footing.

2

Yes I do. I prefer to create my own world and invite others to share mine - and I am delighted to share theirs.

1

Same world, different interpretations.

2

All the time. I feel like the world also moves way too fast for me. Always felt like I've had to play catch-up. Finally feeling comfortable taking things at my own pace.

1

I have felt likeI didn’t fit in my whole life! Some of it I blame on the fact that my father’s work has us moving every two to three years, often to different countries. You become used to developing your own way of thinking and don’t tend to let yourself make close attachments. Hard to be a sheep when your herd keeps changing! Being exposed to different cultures and values opens your mind to not being pigeonholed as well. But it makes it very hard to find a place to fit in. You find that groups may appeal to one part of your beliefs, but totally turn off others. I have lots of acquaintances, but not really any I would consider close friends. I belong to a motorcycle group and enjoy many of the people when we meet, but feel no real rapport with any of them and don’t associate outside our club activities. Same when I was working and a union member. I was an officer in my local, but never felt attached to my fellow officers or members. I have gotten used to being alone and find myself avoiding people as much as possible, while still being available to those few who take the time to contact me.

0

I have always felt that way. It bothered me as a kid, but I quite enjoy it now since I am easily bored by what many people tend to blather on for hours about.

2

People typically make no sense to me. They make obviously false assumptions and insist that you have to as well. Religion is only one area where this happens.

1

I'm not sure if I live in a different world but my perception of this one does seem to be odds with most people. But I have family and friends who are kindred spirits so it's ok. 🙂

3

No, but I do sometimes feel that I was born in the wrong time and place.

1

Not necessarily a different world, but perhaps my own distinct way of looking at it, or interpreting.

But then, I guess all of us have that - our own perspective. Each of us live inside our own heads - alone.

0

Unfortunately no. I have to live in their world too as they live in mine. Not all bad, just wish thry all mow their lawns on the same day at the same time. Less noise for the rest of the week!

0

Great to hear the thoughts from everyone! Didn't expect such a big response, thank you.

1

Always feel like a stranger. Poe, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne just some of those who felt the same way.

1

All the time... Sometimes I feel like I'm a different species all together...

0

Most of the time!

0

Every Fucking Day. But I also talk to moths and trees so I am sure others think I am from another world as well.

Quarm Level 6 Aug 25, 2018
1

No ... But I reliase that everyone else lives in a different world without even realising. Initially I tried to alert them to that. I ahve given up on that.

1

we all ARE living in different worlds. we have unspoken contracts: we share roads, sidewalks, language (for the most part) -- but we can't see through others' eyes in a literal sense. dyspraxia complicates things; self-awareness of the dyspraxia must somewhat counteract that, but life is complicated at best, anyway! you're high self-monitor, too. that can be a blessing and a curse. but you know what? since everyone is in a different world, perhaps the best thing to do is appreciate your own the best you can, and let your curiosity bring you into others' as well, as much as possible (all the way is not possible). curiosity should be your driving force. people are interesting!

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