[ColorsOfTheMoon]

@ColorsOfTheMoon It really does. I'm still in high school, and as much as I would love to pass, I would much rather stare into space or daydream instead of paying attention. All homework takes forever to complete because I get distracted by something else. It leaves me with a lot of stress and last-minute rushes. :P

Still in high school? Hehe, me too.
I really don't know what to do with my wandering mind. Tying it down is so far away from a solution. Have any quick-fixes?

[thompidoo]

Let the school days go. In their teens, people are gawky and hyper aware of their flaws then so they take it all out on others. Though, I think the real losers in this scenario were the poor girls who thought you were "gay". They lost their chances with the sensitive guy and got stuck with those jerks.

Lol. Thanks for the reply. I have, indeed, let the school days go. My rambling about them is only in response to the thread being about childhood, and not the neurotic outpouring of somebody who cannot let go of schoolyard psychological trauma. I am well and truly over those days. As for being thought of as 'gay' - it wasn't the girls who were the problem - it was the overly macho, homophobic guys, who may or may not have been making up for insecurities about their own sexual identity and thought they needed to 'prove' their heterosexuality with derogatory remarks about anything that strayed remotely from their warped ideal of masculinity. I never really understood the need to define oneself by tearing other people down.

[thompidoo]

Still in high school? Hehe, me too.
I really don't know what to do with my wandering mind. Tying it down is so far away from a solution. Have any quick-fixes?

Why tie your mind down...? I would suggest that you never tie your mind down, and instead install some seats to take some people along for the ride.

[Mattylad]

Toy Story clips notwithstanding, I think I was by most people, maybe even to a certain extent by my family - though I'm undecided on that. My friends completely misunderstand my introversion, mistaking this for aloofness and Aspergers and generally verbally attack this.

I also sit next to a friend, he's actually kind of similar to me now I think about it, key thing is I think he's extremley introverted like me. Anyway I sit next to him in form and after he came in one chilly, grey morning (the usual picturesque English weather, I might add) I said "Oright," and talked briefly. We sat there in a silence - though it was by no means an awkward or unwanted silence. We were both thinking about one thing or another and were fairly happy. Then, one of my other friends who were sitting infront interrupted. "Wow, why aren't you guys talking?" He was also laughing, presumabely at our silence.

Just a quick example of how it works around my parts. Trust me, that's not the worst I've gotten.

[Touk]

Childhood is an important phase in everybody's lives. Childhood experiences can give way to some serious insecurites that consecutively shape a part of our personalities.
Most kids play around, but I literally remember being this dreamy space cadet. I used to daydream a lot as a kid and of course, most people thought I was overly sensitive and dreamy. I could never hit people back or engage in aggressive playground fights. The tears would just fall at the drop of a hat. These rose-colored glasses I wore as a kid made everything look so grand and intimidating. Tough-looking people scared me, challenges scared me. I was pretty self-critical back then. Despite being able to perceive the good in almost everyone else.
Did you grow up fast and feel alienated too? Did you often feel like you were on a completely different page from your peers and didn't know how to connect with them? Growing up fast like, were you able to understand and feel things on a deeper level even then? Did the idealism from fantasy books get to you? And despite the emotional maturity were you slow to catch on to social customs, the ways of the (seemingly cruel) world and learn to stand up for yourself?
Of course, I'm much better off right now but childhood stigma sticks in the psyche. I'm reaching out to you guys, hoping I'm not the only one, so if you can relate, please leave a response behind. Thanks :)

Pretty much sounds like me, at the same time growing up fast and seeing things in mature manner, i also kept a child like manner about me. I have the split between the two. It just depends on what it is or the situation I am in.

[ThatOne]

Still in high school? Hehe, me too.
I really don't know what to do with my wandering mind. Tying it down is so far away from a solution. Have any quick-fixes?

Not really. I've really just learnt to engross myself with/focus intensely on whatever the teacher is saying. I just pretend it's the most interesting thing in the entire world and somehow manage to ignore my imagination for a bit.

[Floatingnotthinking]

I cried a lot as a kid too, and was always picked on. In elementary it got so bad that at one point they had a hate club. Object of hate: me. I never learned to stand up for myself, and my mom always told me they were just jealous and to ignore them. Some of them really were because of my effortless good grades. It got better in grade 5 when I moved to a gifted class where I met more people I could semi relate to, made some decent friends there, not the kind you keep in touch with though. But this is also the year my brother was diagnosed with Autism, my parents marriage went downhill and I was forced to grow up pretty quickly. Grade 6 was okay apart from the living hell my family situation was. In grade 7 I was really depressed and went through an emotionless phase. I was so numb at that point. This one girl kept on taking advantage of me because I didn't stand up for myself. In grade 8 I stopped hanging out with her and drifted to a new group of friends, who I sadly didn't relate all that well to. All through middle school the popular girls would be openly rude to me and spread nasty rumors about me. One guy would purposely break my sculpture, the popular girls would call me and my artwork stupid many times. But at least in grade nine my parents finally divorced and I found real friendships, or as real as I've ever known.

I've come to terms with the fact that I'm a target of sorts, I've stopped caring all that much at this point. I've been openly taken advantage of due to my passiveness but never manipulated. I always sense when someone's trying to manipulate me.

[heylena]

I was the only introvert in a a family of 5.

This is how I feel in my family. I don't know what types my family members are, but all of them are extroverted. It has always been frustrating.

[ethylester]

I think I felt less misunderstood myself and felt more like I didn't understand what everyone else was doing. When I think back to myself as a kid, looking at the world, I remember feeling like everyone had something that I didn't have. It wasn't that they didn't understand me, it felt more like I didn't understand them.

In my memories, I can see myself looking on as groups of kids obsessed over this or that and not having any clue why they thought it was so important or interesting. I had things I thought were cool and interesting and would share them with people and most of the time it was accepted and I was humored, I guess. People liked me, I just had weird taste. So they'd nod and accept my weirdness but no one would really join me in it. A few ventured into my world but seldom latched on to things the way I did. I liked what I liked and if it was unpopular, it didn't faze me at all. I never cared if something was popular or fashionable and when other people did, I felt confused by them. I didn't understand why. I still don't have that desire to fit in and be "cool". I want to be liked and accepted but I am not going to pretend to like something I don't like. And to me, that was a lot of what childhood/school was about - liking all the same things as everyone else. I didn't understand that.

I was obsessing over the weeds and everyone else paid attention to the flowers. That's how it's always been.

[refugee]

Yes, most people, including myself, misunderstood my personality. I sort of grieve my childhood because it could have been much happier had I known and grown into my natural abilities.

1. Daydreams: Parents and teachers knew I was intelligent, but they all told me I lacked motivation, which is why I got crappy grades. I didn't realize that I was trying to create my own utopia because reality wasn't so inviting.

2. Fantasy: I was into lots of fantasy and science fiction, which made me nerd and a geek. Parents had no clue what I was talking about half the time. Friends were few and far between. Again, no real connection.

3. Being alone: For some reason when everybody was meeting up and having parties, I didn't go at all. I rarely stepped outside of my house, except for school, church, and occasional friend time.

Basically, I blame the lack of understanding on rampant ignorance, both on my part and others.