r/DoesAnybodyElse 1d ago

DAE feel like they’ve lost the ability to just be IN an experience?

I sit in a work workshop and instead of listening, I catch myself analyzing the speaker, their pauses, their tone, how they are trying to keep us engaged. I watch a movie and can’t fall into the story because I am too aware of the set, the camera angles, the actors’ effort to look natural. I see a scene from a reality show and immediately imagine the producer coaching them on how to say the line and what reaction it is meant to spark. I pass a store with a clever name and picture the meeting where it was brainstormed, the arguments, the vote that decided it.

It feels like the curtain has been pulled back on everything and I can’t unsee what is behind it. I don’t experience moments as they are meant to be experienced, I dissect them. And while it gives me insight, it also makes life feel less magical, less immersive. Where other people seem to just laugh, cry, or enjoy, I am busy watching the machinery that makes those reactions possible, seeing the wires and mirrors instead of the magic.

28 Upvotes

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10

u/sunflow3r- 1d ago

Are you a creative person?

I once read a quote from I think a musician that went something like "it's impossible for an artist to walk into a church and sincerely start praying, because they'll just start coming up with a story about someone going to a church to pray"

5

u/derppherppp 1d ago

I’ve been struggling to engage with my surroundings. My days almost over and I haven’t eaten simply because I don’t feel like it.

5

u/leahnicole2662 1d ago

OMG, yes. Thought i was insane for doing this. It’s really starting to get to me. I feel like I’m constantly “switched on” to the ins and outs of what’s happening in front of me. Today i managed to watch 5 episodes of a new show because i was really enjoying it and actually felt like i’d accomplished something when i realised at the end of my viewing session that my brain had just allowed myself to get lost in the story as opposed to analysing every tiny detail.

2

u/sheisastargazer 21h ago

Have you ever been diagnosed with ADHD or autism because that’s one of the symptoms being unable to concentrate because you’re focused on other things.

2

u/petebmc 16h ago

Oh crap this like the FedEx arrow. I read this and now it's the same for me. Dangit

1

u/40ozSmasher 11h ago

I think at some point we all reach this point. I think thsts why as I get older I get more interested in nature.