[INFP] Am I the only one having imaginary conversations?

[Red Herring]

Hi NFs!

As i walked home from the supermarket yesterday I had a long talk with Mark Twain (well actually it was more of a monologue, I´m afraid) about the changes the 20th century brought us and what he would have liked and what he wouldn´t have liked. I tried to explain the magnitude of some events and developements and it suddenly struck me that I had no clue whether doing this is relatively normal or if I have gone mad some time ago.

I should add that I have had imaginary conversations with both fictional and real people, dead and alive, people I know and people I never met, since my teens.

Anyone else doing this?

 

[Phantonym]

Hello, fellow mad person. You're not alone, if that's any consolation! I do the "conversations" as well and have done so for as long as...I can't even remember. So far I haven't really ventured into convos with dead or fictional people, they've mostly been people I have come into contact with personally or people who are "known" to the wider audience. Sometimes, with friends, it can be a pain to remember that we've never really talked about some stuff.

 

[Quinlan]

Do you speak out loud?

 

[Southern Kross]

Hi NFs!

As i walked home from the supermarket yesterday I had a long talk with Mark Twain (well actually it was more of a monologue, I´m afraid) about the changes the 20th century brought us and what he would have liked and what he wouldn´t have liked. I tried to explain the magnitude of some events and developements and it suddenly struck me that I had no clue whether doing this is relatively normal or if I have gone mad some time ago.

I should add that I have had imaginary conversations with both fictional and real people, dead and alive, people I know and people I never met, since my teens.

Anyone else doing this?

LOL yes. Most of the conversations I have are imaginary. I like having the "advances of society/science" conversation too - the last one was with Jane Austen.

This must be an INFP thing. I don't have clue why we do it. Maybe its a combination of a strong imagination with the tendency to be disappointed with most social interaction.

 

[Riva]

I have imaginary conversations too. Most of them are with myself. I talk to a imagine myself as the imagined person and make silly comments or imagine myself doing crazy things. And i end up laughing at them.

So the person who laughs is the real person. Which leads me in to awkward positions. On so many occassions people have stared at me and asked me what was so funny.

What should I tell them? That I was laughing at a joke I cracked as a third perso?.

 

[Southern Kross]

I have imaginary conversations too. Most of them are with myself. I talk to a imagine myself as the imagined person and make silly comments or imagine myself doing crazy things. And i end up laughing at them.

So the person who laughs is the real person. Which leads me in to awkward positions. On so many occassions people have stared at me and asked me what was so funny.

What should I tell them? That I was laughing at a joke I cracked as a third perso?.

LOL I know exactly what you mean! Embarassing! That's why I try my best to restrict this to when I'm alone. Unfortunately, sometimes its too tempting.

 

[Riva]

LOL I know exactly what you mean! Embarassing! That's why I try my best to restrict this to when I'm alone. Unfortunately, sometimes its too tempting.

The issue is my funny moments are usually comments made by my imaginary person at people who are in my line of sight.

So it's too hard to control it.

And i should add that the jokes are cracked by the imaginary person. i can't tell him to stop can I?

 

[Salt n' pepper]

lol. I'm not NF, but I live in a world of imaginary conversations... past, present, future. I do it for fun and when I need to lay things out for myself. Or whatever, they have different purposes. But I can't imagine not doing it. Imaginary conversations, scenarios, ect. With people, dead or alive.

 

[Southern Kross]

The issue is my funny moments are usually comments made by my imaginary person at people who are in my line of sight.

So it's too hard to control it.

And i should add that the jokes are cracked by the imaginary person. i can't tell him to stop can I?

Is your imaginary person funnier than you are?

 

[INTP]

Im not nf, but i do this nearly all the time. I also imagine situations, on what i say in them, do in them, what others do and say in them.

When there is something bothering me it can help me to figure out things that i wouldnt normally get. But most the time i just do this for fun.

 

[Phantonym]

Do you speak out loud?

As for myself, I don't speak out loud in general. I might utter some words when I feel absolutely certain that I am alone or that they wouldn't be heard. I do have strong control over that because I hate to be embarrassed and I already know that when I get into my deep thought stage, nothing else exists anymore. But I still do care enough to make sure not to be embarrassed in public.

Im not nf, but i do this nearly all the time. I also imagine situations, on what i say in them, do in them, what others do and say in them.

When there is something bothering me it can help me to figure out things that i wouldnt normally get. But most the time i just do this for fun.

Yes! I do that as well from time to time. And it is fun.

 

[Riva]

Is your imaginary person funnier than you are?

No one i know is funnier than I am am.

And like I said sweetheart the other person is ME saying things that the real person wouldn't say because it would offend others.

 

[Red Herring]

So relieved to hear that! Maybe I should make clear that (at least in my case) this is not about consciously practicing scenarios (like one might practice a job interview) or a method applied to discuss the pros and cons of an issue but something I slide into and only realize I am doing when I´m already way at it.
No, I don´t speak out loud, lol, that would mean hearing my own voice which in turn would draw me back into reality ..how boring that would be!

 

[TrueHeart]

I should add that I have had imaginary conversations with both fictional and real people, dead and alive, people I know and people I never met, since my teens.

Anyone else doing this?

All the time!

 

[stalemate]

I can't relate to this at all.

 

[Xellotath]

I do, all the time, all the time, all the time, at least 4 times a day... but they are not properly structured conversations. They're usually small bits where I have to elaborate on something to that specific person.

Its not like I unclude the Hi, how are you's and the take cares.... having etiquette with my internal ghosts would be waaay too self-conscious and I'd say, kind of schizo.

But I'm not a psychiatrist.

 

[tigerlily113]

I do that too, but for me it's more like i have imaginary conversations with people that i actually want to talk to. Like, if there's something that i want to say to someone but i'm too shy or will never have the chance to say it. I'm much more confident and eloquent in my mind than i am in real life.

 

[algeerot]

I do that too, but for me it's more like i have imaginary conversations with people that i actually want to talk to. Like, if there's something that i want to say to someone but i'm too shy or will never have the chance to say it. I'm much more confident and eloquent in my mind than i am in real life.

I do this all the time. Although I tend to pace a lot and to utter a few words and sometimes I ask the questions for them.

 

[Cephalonimbus]

I do it too.

For me, it's the most effective way to learn something; i pretend i'm explaining what i've just read/heard to someone who doesn't know anything about it, forcing myself to put it in layman's terms. Meanwhile, i try to have the imaginary person ask me questions for me to answer. It's really effective because if there's anything about the material i don't quite understand, i'm confronted with it. If only i had known about this method when i was still in school, perhaps i wouldn't have messed up so bad

But i talk to myself all the time. I just don't necessarily imagine another person. Sometimes i do, sometimes i don't. Either way, it tends to be more of a monologue.

 

[angelhair45]

I do this all the time, and always thought everyone else did too until recently.

I have conversations and situations with dead, alive, and fictional people all the time.

Another thing my brother (entp) and I are famous for is sitting alone and suddenly cracking up laughing at some funny memory of the past. It was a running joke between us growing up because we both did it so often. I still do it a lot.

I also talk to myself, and noticed I actually whisper out loud to myself a lot. My son does it too. The other conversations are generally in my head.