I just want to say thanks to everyone that has responded to my other posts. Your posts are very helpful, even though I still only suspect I have (I think inattentive) add...and cant prove it.

I have a terribly active imagination.

I grew up in a financially unstable home, therefore, there was were alot of activities I wanted to participate in while growing, but was never able to.

I spent most of my time using my imagination instead. As I got older, and the more dependant I became on myself....I realized that I have the ability(funds) to do many of the things I always dreamed about doing as a child. Although some things are very expensive and I could take a huge financial risk to do it... but there is no gaurantee I can actually do what my imagination/day dreaming promises I can.

So, whats the problem? Well the problem is that I can not tell the difference between day dreaming about what is really possibly... and day dreaming about things that are just too impossible.

How do I learn to recognize what is out of my reach, and what isnt?
I can imagine a scenario of doing something fun and exciting.. and be very happy if I can convince myself that I can do it... but when it comes right down to it... what if it is just too extreme? Or too expensive... or I just dont have it in me to do what it is I always dream about doing?

I hope this makes sense. People always say you need goals in life...but I cant tell if my goals are too large. Or if my goals are too impossible to achieve.

This is how my imagination can become a huge problem for me. I imagine, and imagine, and imagine how wonderful somthing would be...then I wait, and I wait, and I wait... untill I can do it.....then when I can attempt it..there is a margin there... a margin of error large enough for failure. And I just cant tell if my imagination bothered to factor in that margin.

Are active imaginations problematic? Is there any place for imaginations in a responsible, adult world?

How old should you be when you stop day dreaming......?
Does anyone else have this problem?
Do you ever feel like what you are doing in life just isnt enough?
Do you ever feel that you just arent really living?
A routine life..is not the life for me.

Imagine - John Lennon.
never stop.

A proviso - imagination works with your current reality.
As you build your reality - imagination will settle on what is possible.
Experience shapes imagination.

Dreaming about the impossible evaporates as you absorb rrreality.

The answer 'dream on' - and 'feed your head' - the winning combination - we need both.

You'll never be told definitively that you have ADD.
You will know though.
Align yourself against the people here, and compare it to your alignment against your nonADDer friends ... if your most striking quirks are represented here, and not out there with your nonADDer friends ... then I guess it's likely ... imagination and day-dreaming are a couple of common ADDer traits though ...

SB.

Imagination is the beginning of creation.
You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.


George Bernard Shaw

I don't think you're ever too old for imagining (besides, who makes these types of rules anyway???)

Sounds like what you're really asking is how do you make your visions a reality, am I correct? I think we sometimes do get caught up in our own worlds, and forget to actually strive for what's "real." But that said, I also think that your imagination is reality--your personal reality. Whatever you've experinced in your daydreams, you have actually done (sort of). So don't club yourself if both your "real world" and "inner" realities don't quite match.

Perhaps writing down attainable goals for yourself might help. That way you'll have a list of concrete things you want to achieve in this world. If you feel like you're not doing enough, think about what you'd like to be doing, and how that can translate into the real world. Not sure if my post helped at all, but wish you the best :)

Successful people are failures more than the rest of us.

I rarely fail and I never succeed.