No sense of direction

jimmythedivil

For as long as I can remember I have had an appalling sense of direction. Okay it's not exactly the worst affliction a person could have but I have found that as I'm getting older it is becoming more and more of a problem.

I get lost everywhere, whether it be walking to the shop or finding my way around a building with more than two rooms. It affects my confidence, because I don't like going places I don't know, therefore don't meet many people or go away much. It makes me a nervous driver because I am literally always only a few minutes away from not having a clue where I am and getting blown out of it. Worst of all, it makes me come across as thick to others.

I know it sounds like a Woody Allen monologue but it is really starting to wreck my head! Are any other people's minds programmed this way too? Is there any way of training myself not to be like this?!

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I used to be friends with this guy who had an unreal sense of direction. He'd go somewhere once and forever after he'd know exactly where he was going.


I'm the worst for directions though. If I'm in a hurry I can't tell my left from my right. So I'll be sitting in the car, head stuck in the phone..
"Go that way" what way? "That way!" *points*
Or "oh you needed to take that turn back there"
I just lack the interest of giving directions.

And despite me getting the same bus every evening for the past year, I still don't know the route it takes.

I'm afraid I have no advice for you on how to combat this OP. I am the exact same but it doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's just something I accept as being part of me. I've no problem driving to new places because I see getting lost as being a bit of an adventure.

One thing I would be concerned about though is if I started to lose direction in familiar places. That would be a different kettle of fish.

ProudDUB

OP, get a GPS/Sat Nav for your car. They are great gizmos. If you are that nervous about being confused when you drive, that it affects your judgement, or reaction times, you are a danger to other drivers. A wee bit of help can't hurt. Plus, it will make going places more fun and enjoyable.

Also, have a think about talking to your GP. He may be able to refer you to a clinical psychologist who can do some tests. You may laugh at seeing a doctor for a bad sense of direction, but my cousin was recently diagnosed with Adult Attention Deficit Disorder.

One of the symptoms of AADD is a bad "working memory", aka the short term memory that you use for simple tasks, like remembering what you are doing, or where you are going, or why. Her short term memory was so bad, she was terribly freaked out she was getting Altzheimers or something like that. She also had issues concentrating on certain tasks and getting distracted easily. The AADD disgnosis really helped her put some of the pieces together, as to why she struggled with certain day to day things in her life.

It can affect people in different ways. There is no cure for it, but she was provided with a lot of tools to help her overcome the symptoms of her condition. It has helped her enormously. I am not saying that is what is wrong with you, but it can't hurt to consult your GP, as a poor sense of direction may be a symptom of a wider issue, memory related or otherwise. Hope this helps.

recylingbin

gps chip in the brain is your friend.

Here's the prototype

http://us.123rf.com/450wm/lightwise/lightwise1210/lightwise121000050/15845979-moral-compass-and-career-path-concept-with-a-human-head-and-a-compass-as-a-brain-on-a-grunge-old-par.jpg

Zillah

It's a sign of the times that I assumed from the thread title that this was going to be about someone having no idea what was happening in their life or where they wanted it to go.

JackieBauer

It could be worse, you could have no sense of erection -:)

Valentina

My dad has an incredible sense of direction. He knows his way everywhere, not just around Dublin but every city and town he's ever visited. If I told him I was going to such and such a place tomorrow, he could give me the best route and would probably recommend a pub or restaurant to visit while I'm there

My memory and sense of direction is appalling though so I rely on Google Maps

foggy_lad

If I go somewhere I will always remember how to get there and where places are etc but if someone asked me for directions to the same place I wold have to tell them I know it well but don't know how to get there.

Paramite Pie

As someone who has a very strong sense of direction -- I'm generally a very perceptive person. Only in my hometown would I walk down the street without taking it in.

It's just like how some people walking down the street will be noticing everyone's fashion -- I'll be mentally mapping new streets. There's always that -aha feeling - where you realise a some shortcut or how it all fits together.

Even when I'm spaced out, i still have some idea how many turns I took. I guess the trick is to train yourself to notice certain details, Landmarks (even dull ones like the local spar) and Street Names. While Googlemaps is great, I'll never need to consult it again once I've found the place.:D

SEPT 23 1989

Leave a trail of breadcrumbs behind you

maudgonner

If I have to find my own way somewhere I'll pretty much always be able to find my way back.

If someone is sitting beside me, giving me directions? Not a chance in hell I'll ever find the place again. The ability to remember turnings/landmarks just automatically switches off. I don't use GPS very much, but I'm sure it would have the same effect on me.

murpho999

Normal drive abroad with my wife using paper maps before sat navs:

Wife: Take the next left.
Me: OK.

After initiating left turn

Wife: Where are you going?
Me: I'm turning left as you said.
Wife: I didn't mean that, I meant the other left!
Me: As in "right"?

thattequilagirl

I thank the universe almost daily that I was born into a generation with access to google maps- I'm woeful with directions and extremely absent minded - it's a terrible combination.

On the bright side, I'm so used to being lost in a strange city that it doesn't bother me at all.

DavyD_83

My sense of direction is non-existent; like Persepoly, I always see the wandering and getting lost (but I think you're only really 'lost' when you care) as part of the adventure, I'll get there eventually.
I still always take a few seconds to work out which way to go when I come out of a shop.
It's only since driving other people that the stresses of it all have kicked in. My wife doesn't appreciate the adventure, and can't understand how I don't just know where i'm going at all times and stick to my defined route. In fairness, I do kinda phase out a lot and forget to take the turn I was supposed to.
I get bored and easily distracted when driving. When I'm on my own, if I miss a turn, I'll just take the next one, it's not that big a deal.
I do pay attention on motorways and the like, when I know I have an un-missable turn coming up.

My memory of, and how I think of directions just seems to be different to people who have a good sense of direction, always been curious how they see things mapped in their heads. Do they see a kind of top-down/map version of the area that they can just understand?
I just see memories of junctions, but rarely with any real connection between them. I know when I hit a junction which way i need to go, but have real difficulty in recalling it before I get there. I remember what I see when I wander around places, not really an overall mapping or plan of the area, if that makes any sense at all.

I feel that my memory of an area is more like one of those panoramic photos where everything is in front of you, even though it's a 360 view; so i know what's right and right from here, and what's left and left from here, but it doesn't intuitively click to me that they are the same place (or something).

Wonder if any of that actually makes sense to anybody else or if its just me? Anytime I've tried to explain it to my wife, she just gets more frustrated with the fact that I try to say I actually view it all differently, rather than I'm just crap at paying attention to stuff. I'm pretty sure it's an aptitude thing and not just not wanting to be better at it.

Maximus Alexander

My sense of direction is pretty good. No surprise though, I suppose. Most things about me are pretty good.

gw80

Paramite Pie wrote: »

As someone who has a very strong sense of direction -- I'm generally a very perceptive person. Only in my hometown would I walk down the street without taking it in.

It's just like how some people walking down the street will be noticing everyone's fashion -- I'll be mentally mapping new streets. There's always that -aha feeling - where you realise a some shortcut or how it all fits together.

Even when I'm spaced out, i still have some idea how many turns I took. I guess the trick is to train yourself to notice certain details, Landmarks (even dull ones like the local spar) and Street Names. While Googlemaps is great, I'll never need to consult it again once I've found the place.:D

I would be similar to yourself, if I'm in a unfamiliar town or city and I am walking from the hotel for the first time I will stop every now and again and turn 180 degrees and have a look at the street as if I were coming back that way just to take in any landmarks to look for on the way back, because streets can look very different going one way to coming back the very same street

It is certainly one of my biggest weaknesses too. I am really bad at directions and direction. Sometimes I have to go over a new route multiple times before I feel confident I know where I am going. And if someone else is driving or leading - my brain just switches off and I follow them blindly without taking in the directions myself. So I can not even re-trace my steps sometimes.

I have a partner who is exactly the opposite. She not only seems to develop maps in her brain as she walks a new route - but if at some point the route crosses over one she already has in her head she talks of this sensation of them "linking up" in her head and becoming one big map. It all just fits together for her.

I can recommend little OP except that practice works for me. Another boards user recommended me the game "Ingress" - which involves a lot of moving around and going over the same ground multiple times - often by back road or alley routes you might not otherwise have noticed are there. I have found I now know my way around areas of Dublin - Maynooth - Cork - Sligo - Galway and more that I otherwise would not have any notion about.

So anything that gets you out and moving and _thinking_ about where you are moving rather than doing it blindly - will help link things up in your head and get to know your way around areas you are in often.

me_irl

There once was a man named Ned,
Who had eyes at the back of his head.
He had no way of knowing,
which way he was going.
"But I know where I've been to!" He said.

maudgonner

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

My sense of direction is pretty good. No surprise though, I suppose. Most things about me are pretty good.

Especially your modesty :pac:

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

The Backwards Man

I have a half decent sense of direction alright. It's pretty easy once you learn how to deduce which way is North, you can work away from there.

ems_12

Rather than get a GPS which usually just disables my own sense of direction (!), I'd recommend looking at maps more often, it greatly increases sense of direction. An appreciation of north, south, east and west always help, so even bringing a compass with you may look odd but would over time help your sense of direction.

Like a previous poster says of their OH, my brain works by developing a map in my brain. I remember landmarks and everything usually slots in around them. If you wanted to improve sense of direction you could keep practicing this when out and about; what way is the coast from where you are standing? And which way is the centre of town?

The thing that messes me up is any underground system! There's no landmarks, and I can't keep track of twists and turns, so I usually don't know which way to go when I emerge

Boom_Bap

I'm fairly decent at remembering places and having a good idea of how to get somewhere.
The missus thinks I'm rubbish and that she is great.

Sometimes we take turns and when she takes over on directions and we get lost. Then I'm the boll*x for not telling her we were going the wrong way.

Maximus Alexander

maudgonner wrote: »

Especially your modesty :pac:

I've always said my modesty was my biggest failing.

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

I think my worst trait is my modesty. I'm way, way too modest in general, but everything else about me is fantastic.

We were out hill walking on Sunday and met a group of walkers who were hopelessly lost, they had downloaded a walk on to their phones but took a wrong turn and sat navigation does not always work in this area. My husband took out a map you know an actual paper map which he always bring on hill walks and soon put them right they took a photo of the rout on the map.

You can't relay on sat nav from your phone what happiness if there is no phone signal where you are.

We were out hill walking on Sunday and met a group of walkers who were hopelessly lost, they had downloaded a walk on to their phones but took a wrong turn and sat navigation does not always work in this area. My husband took out a map you know an actual paper map which he always bring on hill walks and soon put them right they took a photo of the rout on the map.

You can't relay on sat nav from your phone what happiness if there is no phone signal where you are.

Maybe in the future people will lose the skill of navigation because of relining too much on their phones for direction.

andekwarhola

ems_12 wrote: »

Like a previous poster says of their OH, my brain works by developing a map in my brain. I remember landmarks and everything usually slots in around them. If you wanted to improve sense of direction you could keep practicing this when out and about; what way is the coast from where you are standing? And which way is the centre of town? /

I'm like this too. I've a good memory for routes and I can usually kinda picture/guess (spatially) where I should go based on memory or in relation to contiguous places that I already know. Also have always had a bit of a nerd liking for maps.

Maximus Alexander

mariaalice wrote: »

You can't relay on sat nav from your phone what happiness if there is no phone signal where you are.

Sat nav doesn't require phone signal.

Maximus Alexander

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Sat nav doesn't require phone signal.

Well whatever they were using on their phone wasn't working.

Hercule Poirot

I recently got lost in Madrid at 4 in the morning and couldn't find my way back to the hostel we were staying in (yes, there was alcohol involved)

After wandering around for an hour I finally had the cop on to use my phone GPS and got to where I needed to go (because one of the lads rang me and told me to do it :pac:) - I'd only spent the first hour walking in the wrong direction though

Great invention whoever it was...