Spacing out while doing physical activities | INFJ Forum

Spacing out while doing physical activities

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Dec 16, 2011
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It seems that when I have to do a physical or 'sensing' actvity I try really hard to pay attention at first, and then simply 'space out'. Paying too much attention to the external environement can make me anxious and make physical activities harder than they are. When I space out I seem to able to do the task well enough but I find it worrying because I dont remember how I did the task. Its like being on 'automatic' mode or cruise control.

Has anyone else experienced this? Can you explain it?

For example:
I'll get into the car, paying very careful attention to everything around me and trying hard to concentrate on driving, and then - I'm at my destination and I dont remember the journey. This happens really often, even once I had to drive interstate for a 6 hour journey on 100k freeways. Pretty scary. I can be pretty anxious and cautious when driving because there is so much to pay attention too, and I try really hard not to 'space out' but more often than not it just happens.
The only time this doesnt happen is when Im stuck in traffic or driving through the CBD- normally makes me very hypersensitve and anxious.

Same thing happens when I go for a walk, no matter how hard I try not to space out.
I used to go bush walking and hiking with one of my ex's all the time and he was constantly shocked and horrified how much I didnt notice things around me and that I managed to sucessfully naviagte and not hurt myself

My sister bought a hula hoop recently and I was unable to get the hang of it. She kept showing me how to do it but I kept overthinking it and couldnt do it. This morning I picked it up randomly without thinking too much about it and before I knew it I'd been hula hooping for 5 minutes.

I was forced to play volleyball at school- I hate team sports- and I was never very good at it because I felt there was too much going on and I'm unco. However, I would sometimes just space out and actually get the ball. I would never remember seeing the ball or going for it.

I suck at pool. Terrible hand eye coordination. When Im just with a couple of friends though I can somehow fluke most of the shots and play pretty well though.

I tried to take a belly dancing class. It was hilarious, I just couldnt keep up with the teacher's moves and I ran into everyone, fell over, spun ito a wall. But when we got to do 'free' dancing, she said I was doing all the moves correctly

I love cooking and never follow recipes. I hate measuring and timing things, it can make me anxious. Whenever I try to follow a recipe it always turns out bad. I may look a at recipe to get ideas or work out the science behind a dish but then I just throw things together and it just works somehow. I'm bad at explaining how I cook things to others.

I get my lefts and rights confused all the time. I know which direction to go but I mess up when I think about it too much. Its so embarassing. I hate reading maps and normally have to rotate them around to follow directions. Weirdly enough I rarely get lost.

As part of my senior school examination there were all these diagrams of rope knots that we had to reproduce. I fiddled around with the rope for ages, getting no where except frustrated. I gave up and just finished the rest of the test and in the last five minutes I managed to reproduce all those damn knots without even thinking about it.
 
"...too much going on and I'm unco." What's unco?


Anyways as a sensor I also space out and get better at things that I dont think too hard at. Not thinking about things so much works for most areas of my life.
 
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uberrogo said:
"...too much going on and I'm unco." What's unco?


Anyways as a sensor I also space out and get better at things that I dont think too hard at. Not thinking about things so much works for most areas of my life.
Click to expand...

unco - uncoordinated.
Yes, maybe its the overthinking thats the problem. Do you space out as well when you drive/walk/play sports?
 
Asarya said:
unco - uncoordinated.
Yes, maybe its the overthinking thats the problem. Do you space out as well when you drive/walk/play sports?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty much always spaced out as long as Im not afraid. If I am afraid then I think hard and concentrate. Other exception is if I am doing math homework. I dont think as hard at writing assignments, but if I am enjoying it I think "I am happy I am happy lalalala". Not joking.
 
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Asarya said:
I
I love cooking and never follow recipes. I hate measuring and timing things, it can make me anxious. Whenever I try to follow a recipe it always turns out bad. I may look a at recipe to get ideas or work out the science behind a dish but then I just throw things together and it just works somehow. I'm bad at explaining how I cook things to others.
.
Click to expand...

Haha. I do that too. :) That's why I do it "in secret" when no one's looking. I just throw in stuff like painting a picture...or anything for that matter.
Anyway... I also get the idea behind doing a type of food, like let's say baking cakes, after trying a couple of ways of doing it and then I can just write recipes without ever going to the kitchen because I can "taste it in my mind"... I wrote a whole cookbook once in a day (I have been the worst procrastinator on the planet, my deadline was the next day) Typing the recipes down as I was forming the dishes in my head. ....wonder what they tasted like... Well I didn't get any complaints so maybe they were ok. ;D
 
Asarya said:
Has anyone else experienced this? Can you explain it?

For example:
I'll get into the car, paying very careful attention to everything around me and trying hard to concentrate on driving, and then - I'm at my destination and I dont remember the journey. This happens really often, even once I had to drive interstate for a 6 hour journey on 100k freeways. Pretty scary. I can be pretty anxious and cautious when driving because there is so much to pay attention too, and I try really hard not to 'space out' but more often than not it just happens.
The only time this doesnt happen is when Im stuck in traffic or driving through the CBD- normally makes me very hypersensitve and anxious.

Same thing happens when I go for a walk, no matter how hard I try not to space out.
I used to go bush walking and hiking with one of my ex's all the time and he was constantly shocked and horrified how much I didnt notice things around me and that I managed to sucessfully naviagte and not hurt myself

My sister bought a hula hoop recently and I was unable to get the hang of it. She kept showing me how to do it but I kept overthinking it and couldnt do it. This morning I picked it up randomly without thinking too much about it and before I knew it I'd been hula hooping for 5 minutes.

I was forced to play volleyball at school- I hate team sports- and I was never very good at it because I felt there was too much going on and I'm unco. However, I would sometimes just space out and actually get the ball. I would never remember seeing the ball or going for it.

I suck at pool. Terrible hand eye coordination. When Im just with a couple of friends though I can somehow fluke most of the shots and play pretty well though.

I tried to take a belly dancing class. It was hilarious, I just couldnt keep up with the teacher's moves and I ran into everyone, fell over, spun ito a wall. But when we got to do 'free' dancing, she said I was doing all the moves correctly

I love cooking and never follow recipes. I hate measuring and timing things, it can make me anxious. Whenever I try to follow a recipe it always turns out bad. I may look a at recipe to get ideas or work out the science behind a dish but then I just throw things together and it just works somehow. I'm bad at explaining how I cook things to others.

I get my lefts and rights confused all the time. I know which direction to go but I mess up when I think about it too much. Its so embarassing. I hate reading maps and normally have to rotate them around to follow directions. Weirdly enough I rarely get lost.

As part of my senior school examination there were all these diagrams of rope knots that we had to reproduce. I fiddled around with the rope for ages, getting no where except frustrated. I gave up and just finished the rest of the test and in the last five minutes I managed to reproduce all those damn knots without even thinking about it.
Click to expand...

I'm very day-dreamish, when my mind isn't actively engaged 100% I'll start visualizing/thinking about a large number of different things - I "zone out" so to speak. I kind of have to just "trust" my abilities, if I think too much it produces anxiety and then I'm more apt to make mistakes.
 
This was the #1 issue on my elementary school report cards: Day-dreaming.

I have not stopped doing this as an adult, but I can tell you Wellbuterin has helped significantly (one thing it helps is mild adult ADD.) Do I have ADD? I don't necessarily think so. I think our brains go into "rest mode" when it has taken in too much stimuli. I suppose mine just needs more rest than others. LOL
 
I do this all the time too... Do I have ADD?
 
Asarya said:
It seems that when I have to do a physical or 'sensing' actvity I try really hard to pay attention at first, and then simply 'space out'. Paying too much attention to the external environement can make me anxious and make physical activities harder than they are. When I space out I seem to able to do the task well enough but I find it worrying because I dont remember how I did the task. Its like being on 'automatic' mode or cruise control.

Has anyone else experienced this? Can you explain it?

For example:
I'll get into the car, paying very careful attention to everything around me and trying hard to concentrate on driving, and then - I'm at my destination and I dont remember the journey. This happens really often, even once I had to drive interstate for a 6 hour journey on 100k freeways. Pretty scary. I can be pretty anxious and cautious when driving because there is so much to pay attention too, and I try really hard not to 'space out' but more often than not it just happens.
The only time this doesnt happen is when Im stuck in traffic or driving through the CBD- normally makes me very hypersensitve and anxious.

Same thing happens when I go for a walk, no matter how hard I try not to space out.
I used to go bush walking and hiking with one of my ex's all the time and he was constantly shocked and horrified how much I didnt notice things around me and that I managed to sucessfully naviagte and not hurt myself

My sister bought a hula hoop recently and I was unable to get the hang of it. She kept showing me how to do it but I kept overthinking it and couldnt do it. This morning I picked it up randomly without thinking too much about it and before I knew it I'd been hula hooping for 5 minutes.

I was forced to play volleyball at school- I hate team sports- and I was never very good at it because I felt there was too much going on and I'm unco. However, I would sometimes just space out and actually get the ball. I would never remember seeing the ball or going for it.

I suck at pool. Terrible hand eye coordination. When Im just with a couple of friends though I can somehow fluke most of the shots and play pretty well though.

I tried to take a belly dancing class. It was hilarious, I just couldnt keep up with the teacher's moves and I ran into everyone, fell over, spun ito a wall. But when we got to do 'free' dancing, she said I was doing all the moves correctly

I love cooking and never follow recipes. I hate measuring and timing things, it can make me anxious. Whenever I try to follow a recipe it always turns out bad. I may look a at recipe to get ideas or work out the science behind a dish but then I just throw things together and it just works somehow. I'm bad at explaining how I cook things to others.

I get my lefts and rights confused all the time. I know which direction to go but I mess up when I think about it too much. Its so embarassing. I hate reading maps and normally have to rotate them around to follow directions. Weirdly enough I rarely get lost.

As part of my senior school examination there were all these diagrams of rope knots that we had to reproduce. I fiddled around with the rope for ages, getting no where except frustrated. I gave up and just finished the rest of the test and in the last five minutes I managed to reproduce all those damn knots without even thinking about it.
Click to expand...

I know EXACTLY what you mean. I totally do this. I hate following detailed directions (and recipes) - I get impatient and uptight about making mistakes. And physical things are awful when I think about it but fun when I don't.

My part-time job right now is both detailed and physical and every day I'm a tiny ball of worry. Because I want to do things right and overthink things that require maybe 2 brain cells. And my coworkers are like "stop thinking, just do it" but it's SO hard. When they distract me, though. I do it just like everyone else.
 
uberrogo said:
I'm pretty much always spaced out as long as Im not afraid. If I am afraid then I think hard and concentrate. Other exception is if I am doing math homework. I dont think as hard at writing assignments, but if I am enjoying it I think "I am happy I am happy lalalala". Not joking.
Click to expand...

I'm very pensive when I'm spaced out. Usually my brain is very kinetic- it's a little more languid when I'm daydreaming and staring off into the the distance, but it is extremely difficult for me to detach myself like that. One of the few times where I experience such quiescence is when I am meditating.

This may be related to enneagram. You are type 9w1 and Asarya is 1, whereas I am 6w7.
 
One example is when I would mow the lawn my mind would just have songs playing in it while I went merrily about my day. I didnt ever have to think hard about my job, I just did it easily.
 
I'm the same way. I find that I do many physical things a lot better when I don't think much about them. I tend to over think a lot of things and this will usually put me at a disadvantage in physical activities. Information overload when it comes to the outside physical world will get me completely distracted.

Ilove going to the gym, lift weights and us the treadmill, and I find that I feel much better doing that if I can zone out.
 
yep, i'm really bad for spacing out.i do it all the time, because i'm always thinking about other things. sometimes it annoys people...
 
I space out all the time doing physical activity. My job (proper) is really mundane, I can't wait to be free of it. But the conversations I have in my head are usually pretty interesting.
 
I've spaced out while walking and driving. I once was walking and only snapped out of it because a bee bounced off my hand, and I had stopped in the middle of an intersection (no traffic thank God!) Walking alone in the woods I would have no clue where I was because I didn't remember the walk. Luckily it was on my grandparents property and I knew that if I found the creek or a couple other landmarks I would know where I was, but when walking back and trying to pay attention, that's when I get wacked with branches. When I play violin, if I get to a point where I can space out or not think about it I play better than when I think about it. There are some passages in pieces we're working on that I managed to play pretty well during my lesson when I was just uncaring and kept doing it to make the teacher happy (she's also a friend of mine.) Later that day during rehearsal when I tried to play the passage, thinking about everything I knew I should be doing, and I couldn't do it. I've also been known to read an entire passage (webpage, chapter, article, etc.) and not remember a word of it and realize that I had a whole seperate thought process going in my head, but I was still reading.
 
I'm pretty sure everyone spaces out a little bit while doing boring physical activities (because it's boring).

With recipes, though, I get a little obsessed by having the EXACT amount of any ingredients, but never really follow the steps. I'm not sure why I do that o_O
 
Thanks for all the responses. It has normalised my spacing out for me. Many people in my life have always found it odd, like I go into a trance or something, so Im glad that you guys relate and experience it too. I still worry about it though and I just wish that I could live fully in the moment sometimes.
 
Repetition is the key to meditation.
 
Yes.
Which would be why I tend to avoid driving. OMG LONG TIME FOCUS NO AAAAH. So far I became very tired after that.
 
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