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November 21, 2005
Muddy Film
Christopher Boone in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time sometimes feels overwhelmed like his world is spinning out of control. Do you ever feel this way? If you do, please explain. If not, how could Christopher better adapt to his surroundings?
- Kimberly Dolan and Sandy Briscoe
Posted by at November 21, 2005 7:52 PM | The Curious Incident
Comments
I think that Christopher does make adjustments because of his surroundings when he feals threatened by doing his math problems or puzzles in his head or moaning. However, I think that the more that he exposed himself to these environments that he was uncomfortable in, the more accepting he would become of them and the less threatened and more comfortable he would feel.
I think that many people have something in their lives that they are not comfortable with and many times it may be because they are not familiar with it. If we simply expose ourselves more to everything our environment has to offer, we will be more accepting and tolerant.
Posted by: Robin at November 22, 2005 11:23 AM
When I feel "under pressure" (duuun duuun duuunnn da da duuuun duuuun ;-))...I like to create different worlds as if they are movies or video-games. And everyone is an objective and I have to destroy, and save people somehow...so my mind creates ways to rid myself of the problem people, and save the others. I think everyone has their own ways of coping with struggles and mishaps. Obviously Christopher used math and numbers to help him. So when he needs help he just goes to that...and it is hard to change what helps you...it can only develope into more vivid and complexed way to get rid of the more difficult times.
Posted by: Brian at November 28, 2005 4:45 PM
When I feel out of control, I like to surround myself with things that comfort me. Ideally, this would be my home-- wrapped up in a blanket, drinking tea, and watching the Timberwolves. However, when these things are not possible in a given circumstance, I can usually calm myself by thinking of them. I can plan out the next time I'll be able to be in my ideal circumstances, and then view all time before that as working toward it. I don't know if this same type of strategy would work in Christopher's mind, because it's not terribly logical, but maybe he'd be good at calculating the exact time and distance he was from his ideal circumstance. He could probably draw a great map. : )
Posted by: Randi at November 29, 2005 3:28 PM
I think all of us can feel this way, but we just have different ways of dealing with it. Sometimes it goes away, and I think sometimes people just can’t shake it. If this happens to me from something small like schoolwork, I usually just take a break from what I am doing. I can spend an hour trying to figure something out, and have no success, but if I take a step back and come back to it later, the problem is easily solved. For greater situations, I try to put life into prospective. We are so lucky in this country to not have to worry about basic survival, like where we will sleep for the night or when we will get our next meal. Not taking life for granted is a good way to deal with overwhelming situations.
Posted by: Sandy at November 29, 2005 8:07 PM
I feel like my world is spinning out of control all the time. I feel like even now when finals are coming that my world is spinning and I can't control it. I have just learned to take every day one at a time and to do the best I can. But for Christopher he has to adapt different ways of dealing with it. He deals with it by doing math problems and such. I don't think like Christopher does. I wish that I was as good at math as he was but beside from that I learn from my mistakes and by having my world out of control I do make mistakes so in a way it is good sometimes to not have control all the time.
Posted by: Kimberly at November 30, 2005 1:28 PM
Oh, yes! We ALL feel overwhelmed at times, and we ALL have different ways of coping with the dizzy feelings we experience when our worlds are spinning out of our control. I feel stressed out to the max constantly because I have this little habit of always "putting too much on my plate" and being involved in too many things at once. The way that Christopher used to help deal with the dizziness in his life was math, however, I am actually pretty hopeless at math. Christopher also enjoyed writing in his book in the novel, and he predominantly used it to record logical and concrete facts and events. Writing is a subject that I am comfortable with, so when I'm feeling crazily overwhelmed, I can help put myself at ease by recording how I'm feeling or writing a silly little poem or story to help take my mind off things for a little while and just get lost in my imagination. Haha, I'll probably be doing that A LOT during the end of this semester. :-)
Posted by: Rachel at November 30, 2005 7:26 PM
I feel overwhelmed almost all of the time. My brain likes to overanalyze and critisize everything and that leads to constant stress and days of zombie-like living. Lately though I have been able to settle myself down and take things one day at a time instead of worring about the next 3 weeks.
When I begin to feel overwhelmed I jump into bed. As strange as it may be, I can sleep amazing when I feel super stressed. For me the greatest escape from everything that is overwhelming me is to actually leave reality and feel all warm and comfortable in bed. I feel it is almost impossible to be a college student and not feel some small amount of constant stress.
Posted by: Nate Miller at December 4, 2005 10:37 PM
This movie was an accurate portrayal of feelings of extreme anxiety associated with either social phobia, clausterphobia, detailing the possible stress induced by sensory overload. I loved the way the heartbeat resonated when the doors open and the person was able to free themselves from the confining spaces of an institutionalized building.
When I swim laps, I feel relieved of the stress of the world, enveloped in a womb-like water terrain of incredible safety. It might have to do with being a dolphin at one time.
Posted by: Mary F. Wright at December 5, 2005 11:41 AM
This movie was an accurate portrayal of feelings of extreme anxiety associated with either social phobia, clausterphobia, detailing the possible stress induced by sensory overload. I loved the way the heartbeat resonated when the doors open and the person was able to free themselves from the confining spaces of an institutionalized building.
When I swim laps, I feel relieved of the stress of the world, enveloped in a womb-like water terrain of incredible safety. It might have to do with being a dolphin at one time.
Posted by: Mary F. Wright at December 5, 2005 11:42 AM
Yes! I feel very overwhelmed pretty much everyday of my life. Now that i'm in college with many responsibilies on only my shoulders and not having the help from my family, I usually feel that I won't get everything done on time or i'll just forget to do it. Before, my parents would always wake me up in the mornings, do my laundry, make my appointments, cook me supper, fill my car with gas, etc. etc. etc. now i have to do all of that by MYSELF and it's just really hectic and hard sometimes. The one thing that relaxes me that I usually do is get a back massage and/or neck massage, take a nap, exercise, or eat food! haha. I feel that Christopher could better adapt to his surroundings by starting to trust others and not always think of the most negative outcomes. It would help him out tramendously!
Posted by: Brittany at December 5, 2005 3:13 PM
Do I ever feel overwhelmed? NO NEVER...HA. I think sometimes I get overwhelmed because I am not looking at the big picture. Is it really that crucial that I get an A on this assignment? Will it really matter ten years from now? Five years or even next semester? Probably not...but I tend to put everything at a be all end all circumstance. I realize after it is all done that I probably shouldn't have gotten that worked up about it, but its tough to really think that far in advance. I think that Christopher has a hard time doing this, and I don't know if I have any suggestions for him because I really don't think he is capable to think beyond the moment, and some people, myself included, don't have that gift. I think that if Chirstopher though had a great support system and had people around him that he trusted, those feelings of anxiety and the world spinning out of control would be minimized. Having a great support system helps me to understand that things can't always be the way that I want them to, and sometimes no matter how hard you work, it might not turn out the way you want it to.
Posted by: Erin at December 8, 2005 12:33 AM