Do you think about saving people on a daily basis and imagine these constructed situations?

[Anonymous]

i. e. thinking you could figure out how to land an entire airplane in an emergency, thinking about "What happens if there's a robbery and I stop the bad guy", thinking about saving someone from a burning building, thinking you could save someone's life if there's a random medical emergency

Surely not just me

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

I had it to a seriously unhealthy level when I was younger. I really idolized those types of action heroes when I was a boy and wanted to be like them.

I knew I wasn't the toughest or strongest but I took pride in my willingness to sacrifice on other people's behalf. Actually it's embarrassing but the way I used to crush on girls I liked as a boy is that I would die in the process of rescuing them. There was always some degree of vanity to it like maybe my crush would realize how much I loved her after I died saving her.

Also took serious pride in just little gestures of kindness like being the first to run up and help someone without the slightest bit of hesitation when they tripped and fell instead of joining the other kids who pointed and laughed. I wanted that type of goodness and courage to be the ultimately distinguishing feature of me.

Where it really started working towards an unhealthy level is that I deliberately started to seek out ways to become heroic and invited so much trouble this way. Everything from PTSD from a gang beating trying to rescue a couple to giving away my entire savings to homeless people to the point where I could barely pay the bills and had to eat nothing but bread and eggs for months. And my dating preferences were horrible in my 20s: I could looking for the most mentally damaged girls I could "save" in some way and so many of my early girlfriends had serious mental illnesses and deep emotional baggage. I did some things that actually got me celebrated locally as a small-time hero but at grave cost to my well-being.

So I really had to tone that down. Yet I still dream of rescuing people from burning buildings and the like. Where I try to balance it out is that maybe I shouldn't go walking around in the middle of the night looking for metaphorical burning building to jump into.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

I think also a many people have certain fantasies they have difficulty separating from reality. Like some people might have sexual fantasies they can't separate from reality, so they might cheat on their SOs pursuing their sexual fantasies in reality. Some might have fantasies of becoming extremely rich. Some extremely famous.

My unhealthy and dangerous fantasy that I couldn't separate well from reality were my heroic fantasies. Instead of leaving them at just fantasy, I tried too hard to turn them into a reality. So I had to learn to separate fantasy from reality there most. I had an easy time separating the other common types of fantasies.

Yet I still envy the professional fireman, for example, who might be able to live out my heroic fantasies on a fairly regular basis in ways I can't in my cushy and safe job as a software developer. I never envied the soldier though; my conscience is too sensitive in ways I suspect I'd be traumatized worse than anyone if I had to kill someone even in a state of war and self-defense. Yet the fireman has my dream job.

[NathanDavis]

to a point, yes... not exactly to save the people nor on a daily basis

but when I do see in fact, possibly dangerous situations or shady stuff... I do think of what I could possibly do in case shit happens... especially when my family is around

and I sure have lived at places like that, and I've had to act on precautions or scenarios I did think of minutes before some stuff happened

[KittygosMeoWW]

I have lol but it’s more like what would I do with my kid in an emergency or zombie apocalypse. Intrusive thoughts.

[Crimsyjo]

Oooh thats cool. And interesting. I too have thought about the zombie apocalypse type scenario and imagined how I would get my kids to safety and what survival steps I would take. Thought it was just me lol

[KittygosMeoWW]

@Crimsyjo I think it’s a common parent thought lol

[IslaTheWitch]

nah... I'm definitely not a hero type :D

I probably could be kidnapped and wouldn't even notice :D

[andreasderjuengere]

I'm not thinking such things.
I will 'help' in an emergency (and did so), as I see it as a civil 'obligation'.
But as I'm already my girl's hero ( :D ) - I don't dream of, or seek, fame elsewhere.