I Can't Stop My Stream-of-Consciousness

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When other people are talking to me, unless I'm INTENSELY focused on them, my mind goes everywhere. I start thinking about some song I heard earlier or what I will eat later for dinner or something. The other day my co-workers were talking about who-knows-what and I couldn't stop focusing on this problem with the carpet across the way. I was VERY close to just busting out with "What's wrong with that carpet over there?" But I held it inside. I find I usually just say whatever pops into my head though, despite it having nothing to do with the present conversation.

Is this a forever thing? I've been like this since childhood.

I have the same problem as you.

Often times when someone is talking to me about something I don't really concentrate on I'll just say "yeah" and then slowly turn it into a topic I'm interested in.

I've had moments where I get so into my own thoughts that I forget other people are there.

I'm able to focus on what others are saying, but, I have a constant conversation (not schizophrenia - the voices are all me, although sometimes in someone elses "voice") going on internally ("stream of consciousness"?) It can keep me up at nights its so incessant. However, it's never stood in the way of my following an external conversation I'm having.

I can normally concentrate on what someone is saying easily but at the same time I'll be thinking about a few different things at the same time.

I often get odd looks from people or people accuse me of not listening to them because I'll suddenly talk about one of the other things I'm thinking about in the same conversation. I find thinking and talking about multiple subjects at the same time easy and normal. but I've learnt alot of people can't comprehend that and instead don't believe you have been listening to them and get offended. I try very hard to remember not to jump topics now but it's not easy.

Is it that you literally cant concentrate on what someone is saying or do you just get agitated that you can't talk about the multiple topics you are thinking about (which includes their topic) without it being a problem to the other person? I know I do.


Peace ellomo

I'm guilty too. I just don't seem to be interested, or have an understanding of other people's interests. Especially tonight after meeting up with old 'friends.'

But I don't think the issue is concentration, not completely anyway. At times I get the feeling I just don't connect because I'm behind in some areas and ahead in others in terms of maturity.

I was doing a tattoo the other day and the client and I were chatting about Social Anxieties and ASD related issues, as he felt he had several PDD-NOS traits himself and he started explaining his perspective on a particular concept while I was mixing inks to get a specific color.

I found that if I concentrated on my own thoughts about the color blending, his voice faded completely away into the background and I wasn't hearing a word he said, so I had to stop for a moment and make myself listen, or I'd have risked screwing up the color I was trying to get.

Sometimes I can multitask and sometimes I just can't. It was just weird how much concentration it took to follow what was being said to me because once my inner monologue starts babbling, there's little chance of shutting it up without massive amounts of alcohol.

I have had people get upset with me before for losing my concentration on them talking. Sometimes it is difficult to stay connected to the world outside my head when I have no other distractions.

I do use distractions to help me pay attention. How backwards is that?

I have a similar problem. Whenever someone starts talking to me I'll hear the first and last parts of whatever they're saying, but I always tune them out in the middle because my mind wanders. For example, my mom will say something and it will sound like, "The other day at work, I was blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and it was really funny." And I'll be like because while she was going "blah blah blah", I was thinking about my special interests or something I found on the Internet.

That's what my brain does, I have no control over it, and I really don't mind it especially when I'm thinking about my obsessions. Unfortunately though NTs don't get it and I'm ridiculed for my thought process. They get angry that I have difficulty focusing things for long periods of time and getting to distracted by my own thoughts, which I have no control over.

I don't think you can stop it, but you can stop getting embroiled in the junk the mind spews. Try taking a meditation class, or look at some of the many internet resources on the subject.

I like to think of my brain as a kind of insane fisherman, and every few seconds he throws out a baited line, and sometimes I 'see' it and ignore it, and sometimes I don't see it and ignore it, and sometimes I see it and grab hold, and the fisherman reels me in and beats me with an oar for a period of time, until I realize I shouldn't have grabbed the line, let go, and jump back in the water. Sometimes the beatings can go on for hours, or days.