How do you disappear?

[mayflow]

That's so sweet.

Depends on the vantage point. If viewed as a childish or Zen-like statement, it seems sweet and even innocent. Since you wear a frown, you may see it as flippant, which isn't my intent.

I am not really sure what the question is here, so I'll just say some of how I see things. Mostly, life seems like an oscillating thing. Sometimes I am around people and I like that and sometimes I am all alone, and that isn't really true because we can't be all alone, but we can be away from having other people in our immediate vicinity and I like that lots as well. I also like sleeping and I especially like dreaming and those states in-between sleep and consciousness where the subconscious and the conscious can be entertwined and play together. I think our conscious minds dearly yearn to know our deeper and more unconscious or subconscious realms and that there is so seriously more to what we really are and can be than we tend to normally or usually realize.

 

[jade]

Disappearing? Oh it's all too easy to get sucked in.
I think I need to spend more time reappearing. But the internet always lures me if I'm awake, browsing and browsing all day. Online video games with beautiful worlds and beautiful stories that make daily life go by faster. Spend a lot of time as my online "self" to re-energize my real self because socializing is taxing.
Of course there's also sleeping and exploring dreams too, could do it forever~

 

[great]

to withdraw i put my headphones on to avoid people and paint in solitude etc. this is when i have the ability to completely withdraw, which i take advantage of every time i'm able to. if i don't have at least four hours in my day to be completely alone i get unbearably cranky. in general i try to avoid simple conversation, its excruciating. i always feel like i'm thinking so far ahead and deep into things that i cant be completely open about what's going on in my head. the few times i've let something slip, humor/insight that isn't quite straight i've gotten myself in some pretty embarrassing situations. so for the most part i'm sharing a private joke with myself. i've found being honest in your conclusions can only get uncomfortable silences and odd looks, except from precious few.
a trigger which causes me to withdraw most often is attached to the very complicated signaling process of sexual tension. whether its welcome or not i jump in my skin and usually break eye contact and immediately dismiss the subject. unfortunately this occurs daily. Confusingly i am powered by sexual energy and can quickly become drunk off of it, losing sight of what's real and what's not. i often believe i live in a world very detached from reality.
a really tricky one, dealing again with relationship/attraction signals is when men send them when they're in a relationship. when there's a couple in the room i can almost tell you exactly what the two of them are thinking in terms of me- and there are always very different responses from either sex's but it often makes me feel horrible-
i think that i communicate enticingly more than i intend to- and sometimes that signal to pursue to the opposite sex can simply be trying to avoid it. sometimes trying to cover up an intuition makes it more obvious than if it were ignored.

 

[hoodbran]

I withdraw totally (and sometimes for safety) when i get my power sucked by all the extroverts --and demands society places on me-- from me. For safety reasons, i can retreat to a mental place, like in a tough therapy session but look conversant, i can control the nodding and expression of this head i have but not actually be there, i hear blahhh blahhh blahhh and see lips moving but by the time i catch up it's a case of "huh? Whaddya say?" - I sometimes never go out or see people, especially after a taxing time, I especially love sitting with no tv, radio, music or anything, just being by myself is awesome and allows me to think of my world in a way i'm trying to understand it...

Quite a turn from loneliness *thank you to the poster here who gave me awareness of alone v's lonely* - it totally works well with my psychology i am reprogramming (or accepting) whichever - either way I'm proud to be an INFJ, one friend never believed me of my type and I sat the test again and again same result - it's good to know that i wasnt on an 'off' day to gain that result to begin with.

 

[Silently Honest]

Hoodbran when the guy in your avatar looks he's saying.

"I tapped that young ass two times!"

Or something along those lines.

 

[hoodbran]

That must be a Freudian slip! - Wonder what's on your mind? lol - it's Maria Sabina, a Curandera (Shaman) - who Albert Hoffman, Tim Leary and his crew of ethnobotanists learned from, right before the hippes went looking for Don Juan (Castaneda's Focus of *supposed* fiction) - and peyote ;-)

 

[briochick]

well, I used to depersonalize/dissociate but that turned out to be the opposite of healthy. bit of an undersatement there. Now, I go away. I usually tell one or two people where I'm going and dissapear for a day/weekend/evening. I'll turn my phone on silent, or simply not recharge it, and I might go to the city where no one knows me and find a coffee shop or bar and just sit with a notebook, or I go to the woods/mountains and spend a day wondering around there. I find that staying in my bed only recharges me if I'm actually sleeping.

 

[Shai Gar]

ethnobotanists?

i've heard of paleobotanists, lichenology, phycology, and agronomy, but what's ethnobotany?

 

[hoodbran]

ethnobotanists =

Ethnobotany (from "ethnology" - study of culture[1] and "botany" - study of plants) is the scientific study of the relationships that exist between people and plants.
Ethnobotanists aim to reliably document, describe and explain complex relationships between cultures and (uses of) plants: focusing, primarily, on how plants are used, managed and perceived across human societies (eg. as foods; as medicines; in divination; in cosmetics; in dyeing; as textiles; in construction; as tools; as currency; as clothing; in literature; in rituals; and in social life.)

Related to entheogens (natural drugs: p.cubensis, l.williamsii, ayahuasca, DMT etc) - hippies love 'em

Would it be bad for me to share that I used to try entheogens when life got too hard - I would disappear this way, this is how come I know about these things - Today however, I'm running on my own steam - Volunteering for Crisis Christmas tomorrow! Yay
Ya learn something new each day!

 

[Pristinegirl]

i withdraw to the point when i no longer care how far i go, emotionally and mentally distancing myself from loved ones and friends...

... and once i am to that point, i find myself wanting to connect with others again, only to have to build up bridges along the way...


... i've been in this state for the past 3-4 months now...

I can relate I am in this phase right now actually. It is called dissociation. :/

I withdraw totally (and sometimes for safety) when i get my power sucked by all the extroverts --and demands society places on me-- from me. For safety reasons, i can retreat to a mental place, like in a tough therapy session but look conversant, i can control the nodding and expression of this head i have but not actually be there, i hear blahhh blahhh blahhh and see lips moving but by the time i catch up it's a case of "huh? Whaddya say?"

Oh you could not have explained it any better!! I am so familiar with the blaaa blaa blaa and nodding without a clue at what you are nodding at but merely because nodding usually is an indicator that you are listening.
Sometimes it has happened that I nod when there was a question asked at me haha. - And I go OH sorry what did you say?

Also sometimes as I'm spacing away this way, the one who is talking may ramble on as I'm somewhere else thinking and anticipating. So sometimes as I do this I realise something terrifying or bad and such and it shows on my facial expression like in fear and they will go WHAT? whats going on?


On a side note it is interesting that you bringup ethnobotany, I used to be particularly interested in this, even considering life as an ethnobotanist xD Maybe a Shaman and such. (I was in a 70's phase which could have been why)

 

[Entyqua]

I disappear completely...There are those from my high school years who still think I didn't live past 20! I really withdraw into myself and have to constantly rebuild bridges. its very difficult for me to keep friends. I will also disappear from a certain group if one of the members insults me deeply. I find it too hard to socialize after that...

 

[Milon]

Wow I completely understand what you are saying. I do that a lot. I will get totally involved in something and then I can just drop it. I did that with photography for the longest time. Now i am into it again. It seems like I rotate my hobbies thru depression and it is only my hobbies that pull me out of it too. I really enjoy all my hobbies and I have quite a few. And I can withdraw into any of them and be totally alone doing them.

Holy craps! Reading that felt like I wrote that! Efromm, I am exactly like that too! I get depressed, withdraw from life - just like Arbygil - internet, food, gaming. Eventually I "wake up" and realize I'm missing life, and I go out there again. Always felt really guilty about "disappearing" but it makes more sense now.

I read the ISFP description, and it's not a total fit, but not far off either. Very well developed S function. Have to look into J vs P though.

 

[TK*]

I do the same things you do, arby. Internet, writing, chocolate *sigh* and sleep. When I get depressed I can sleep for half of the day, eat dinner, and sleep for the rest of the day until morning. I haven't done that though in a while. Mostly just writing and reading when I want to disappear--I can't disappear for too long since my boyfriend is quick about snatching me out of my funks, lol.

 

[Pristinegirl]

I do the same things you do, arby. Internet, writing, chocolate *sigh* and sleep. When I get depressed I can sleep for half of the day, eat dinner, and sleep for the rest of the day until morning. I haven't done that though in a while. Mostly just writing and reading when I want to disappear--I can't disappear for too long since my boyfriend is quick about snatching me out of my funks, lol.

Awww that makes me happy to hear, that you have a little saviour there. Somehow it makes me very emotional hahah. probably because I can have the tendancy to do the same, especially when I've got school. (RIGHT NOW I'm ON A week of break *happee*)

 

[TK*]

Lol, yeah a "savior." That's one thing I LOVE about having an NF boyfriend. He's very much aware of how I'm feeling without even having to ask. It's nice. Happy break from school, Pristine!

 

[firehotemily]

I distance myself from others....refrain from talking to anyone....and sometimes i put off a negitive feeling to others so they stay away..lol
sometimes i just think off in my mind alone for hours on end just fantisizing me being in an adventure or something lol..xD
so yeah..that also helps me with stress....

 

[Pristinegirl]

Lol, yeah a "savior." That's one thing I LOVE about having an NF boyfriend. He's very much aware of how I'm feeling without even having to ask. It's nice. Happy break from school, Pristine!

Thank you Ahh that sounds lovely, like one of them fairy tales I dream of having too one day haha. A mutual understanding, is often what makes a good relationship, at least the firm base of it It is nice to know that you have tha boy who takes good care of you TK because you are a good person ^^

 

[acd]

I think we should start a whole forum about TK and her love life.

 

[Milon]

This can be split to a new thread if needed.

While disappearing can be beneficial for us, for proper amounts of time, there is also a tendency (for me anyway) to disappear for extended periods of time, which is destructive in my personal life. How do we prevent that, or reverse it once it's happened? I have no motivation whatsoever during these "funks" and I have no "saviour" to rescue me either. Help?

 

[TK*]

Eh???! That would get really boring...really fast.