1d ago

This is for people who have moved away from their home town or have lived in multiple locations long term. Do you ever forget where you are?

It's a somewhat common experience to zone out while driving and not remember how you got from points A to B. However, is it just as common to "wake up" from being zoned out between points A and B and momentarily forget that you're in New(ish) Location and not lost in your Old Location (hometown). Or say someone asks you for directions someplace and you give them directions how to get there based on a different location you lived? I've been living in the Midwest US for 12 years now and still occasionally give directions or think I'm still on the East Coast.

33 comments

I have lived long term in 5 countries. There was only one time I forgot that I was in my hometown instead of in my earlier location.
I was on a bus and I felt asleep. When the bus driver woke me up and told me to get off, I said sorry to him in the language of the different country.
- Understandable, you were booting up

No, but if anyone asks me where I’m ‘from’ I never really know what the answer is.
- Anyone who asks this IRL gets to hear my entire life story, 'cause that's the only answer I can come up with.
  
  SAME! Like I was born in one place moved when I was two, moved somewhere else till I was 6, moved to another state and then 3 different houses before college in that state... then, then, then.
  
  Same! I ended up with a kinda stock answer ("all over the state!"), but that still leads to a story. Which is the point of the question, I guess.
  (I'm a preacher's kid, hence the moving!)
- Where are you from?
  
  A lovely place called Earth.

I'm an Eagle Scout. I don't just know where I am, I know which direction I'm facing and the elevation.

Not often, but it happens sometimes, usually early before getting out of bed.
I travel a lot as part of my job, I've been to 27 countries, and lived long-term in three of them.
When out and about, upon waking up from my alarm I sometimes have to orient myself and remember where I am and why.
- I have this too. When I open my eyes, sometimes the room is not what I expected and it takes a couple seconds to register

I accidentally drove to my former house in a different town after work a couple of times

I used to commute between Portland and Chicago, 2 weeks here, 2 weeks there, 1 week here, 2 weeks there... back and forth. Did that for a year...
It was not unusual to wake up and not immediately know where I was.

I've accidentally said an old address or telephone number after a move, but more commonly, if I'm traveling in a place I've never been before, I'll see someone and think, is that Bill from work? Of course it never is, because I'm 1000 miles from home, but for a split second I don't realize how improbable that would be.
- see someone and think, is that Bill from work? Of course it never is, because I'm 1000 miles from home,
  Except when it is them. It happens to me surprisingly often, even internationally. I ran into two people from my previous city twice in the last month and a half, purely by chance
- Reminds me of a sci-fi story I read. A detective (wait was this in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, maybe? I don't remember, anyway) is looking for a person and asking around. I stead of carrying around a picture of the person they are looking for, they compare the person's features to a list of celebrities and just go around asking if anyone has seen someone that looks like that celebrity. Point being lots of people have surprisingly similar features and there really are "doppelgangers" out there.
  But just try explaining that to some stranger that just caught you staring off into space directly at their face because they look like a person you had a crush on in college, only you're an old fart now and they don't look like that old crush would look now, but like the memory you have of them. "You look like someone I know" always sounds like a pickup line.
  
  I once spent a longer than acceptable amount of time staring at my best friend's new girlfriend during a movie just because I couldn't figure out which actress she reminded me of.
  It was Sandra Bullock in case you were wondering.

As others have said, I find it more common when I am traveling short term than when I move from a place to another.
I think part of it is that moving has a strong emotional impact, so I am unlikely to forget about that in my wake time. But my dreams are often set in my hometown, where I haven’t lived in almost 20 years… the brain is weird!

No, but then I grew up traveling a lot as a kid, so I was used to being in different locations.
My spatial understanding of where I live has gone to shit due to Google Maps, though.
- Same, except my sense of direction has always been shit.

I can't say I've forgotten where I am, but very occasionally I'll see a landmark or just a general vibe of a place while driving and get hit with immense deja vu or memories of somewhere I used to live. Then I'll get on Google maps and look the place up to see how much it's changed.

Yes. Usually when waking up or after dozing off. In extreme cases, i sometimes know i am in location A, and yet struggle to accept it — the sounds or smells or something is just too reminiscent of location B.

Back when I was moving more regularly, yes, but only when I first woke up in the morning.

Nah, except maybe in those first few seconds after waking up

I have a good sense of direction and where I am. I rarely forget where I am. I moved a lot as a kid. Lived in in a bunch of different areas of Washington St.
The sun and shadows will tell you so much about where you are. I was in Virginia for a few years. It was such a diffirent place, I never forgot how foreign it felt. At night, knowing where to look for the stars you know is also helpful. Even knowing which ways the wind blows normally can help.

I've been down south since college, about 14 years.
I hate it, but no I haven't had that happen

I grew up in a small town, joined the RCN moved around a little, lived where I'm at for sometime.
I can't say I have had this experience. Though if there were a lot of similarities in the areas you are in I can see it happening

When I was a kid and I was trying to get to sleep, I'd close my eyes and remember all the different bedroom layouts I'd lived in. Like in one place the wall was to the left and top and the door was down by the foot of the bed. In another place the wall was just to the top and the window was to the left and down. In another place the wall was just to the top and the door was to the top and left. etc.
- I do something similar to this. Whenever I sleep in a new place I always make sure to mentally go over the layout of the place I'm in before I go to sleep. I used to sleep walk (im on meds now), and twice as a kid I slept walked to the wrong location for the bathroom. Once my dad caught me and was able to turn me around to the right room, the second time not so lucky.

33 comments