What is Wrong With Me? (directionally impaired)

[fairfarmhand]

I am a reasonably intelligent adult. I can pay bills, do algebra, and write fairly well. I am articulate and get along with all kinds of people. The thing that makes me feel like the biggest moron in the world is driving places. I get lost frequently. I have no sense of direction and get turned around so easily.

 

It's so frustrating! It is not that I am not trying or paying attention. I just can't make directions stick in my head. (Did she say north or south? Am I supposed to go left or right? Highway 41 or 431?)

 

This drives me crazy. If there is a road closure or detour, I get panicked, because there's not guarantee that I can figure out how to navigate around it if the sign simply says "Find alternate route."

 

I sat in an unairconditioned car for an extra 30 minutes today because there was road construction and I had no idea how to get around it.

 

Yes, I have a Garmin GPS, but even with that I end up in strange places.

 

What is wrong with me?

[Heatherwith4]

If it makes you feel better, I am the same way. :) I have the same problem while walking. For example, if I leave a store in a mall, I sometimes forget which direction to go when I exit the store.

 

My boys have talked me into playing Minecraft recently. My problems with direction extend into the virtual world as well. :lol:

[UncleEJ]

I am that way as well. I get quite a bit of grief about from DH and my dad, who you could drop anywhere on earth, spin in circles and would be able to immediately point north. They are like human compasses.

[JumpyTheFrog]

DH always know where we parked, but has trouble driving around. I wander through the parking lot, but have a much better mental map of roads. (I have learned I have to focus on where I parked the car before I go in the store.) I guess parking and driving use different areas of the brain.

 

I read an article a few months ago that said people who have GPS have worse mental maps than those who don't. They asked people to draw the major streets in their town and a large percent of people couldn't do it.

[fairfarmhand]

I am that way as well. I get quite a bit of grief about from DH and my dad, who you could drop anywhere on earth, spin in circles and would be able to immediately point north. They are like human compasses.

 

I get lots of grief from my dh who is like this too. He thinks I am just not trying or paying attention or something. 

 

I just can't figure out why I can't connect the dots.

[texasmama]

I have this issue, as well.  I just use GPS and accept that I can't be good at all the things.  :)

[ocelotmom]

I've worked in the same building for 4 years. If you ask me, from inside the building, which direction I live, I cannot for the life of me tell you.

 

I wouldn't say I'm unusually bad at directions, but this particular spatial exercise just throws me.

 

[MysteryJen]

Dh, ds1 and dd1 are all like you. Ds1 bought a smart phone for exactly that purpose. Funny, it is the people with dyslexia in the family who are the best navigators.

[Arcadia]

My hubby's sense of direction is a lot better as a pedestrian than a driver. When he walks he remembers landmarks. When he drives, he only remember the exit signs on the freeway.

 

My kids memorize landmarks to get their bearings.

[The Girls' Mom]

I think either you have it or you don't.  My oldest daughter doesn't have it.  She gets lost SO easily, and giving her directions is next to impossible.  We ended up getting her a smart phone for that very reason.

[xixstar]

I only gained this skill when I moved to Milwaukee WI - having the lake location in mind helped me finally stop feeling turned around all the time.

 

Now I can't understand how DH gets lost confused in the tiny town we've lived in for 8 years now...

[wapiti]

I can figure it out if I looked at a map of the route, especially any tricky portions, before I go, even if I come upon some unexpected obstacles like one-way streets or construction.  However, I cannot listen to oral directions involving steps and then remember them unless I am able to visualize the steps while being told, preferably in one big picture like a mental map.  I think this represents my visual strengths vs auditory-sequential weaknesses.

 

What I struggle with is making sudden decisions while driving, such as passing by parking spots, when there's traffic behind me.

[Farrar]

Dh has this. He's incredibly intelligent, but he has this one area of problems... he struggles a little with left vs. right, he gets lost all the time, and he can't do spatial puzzles or play chess very well. I think it's just a learning disability. I mean, I've seen him get crazy lost going somewhere he's been dozens or possibly even hundreds of times previously. And he makes one weird turn and suddenly he's beyond lost.

[tm919]

I think either you have it or you don't.  My oldest daughter doesn't have it.  She gets lost SO easily, and giving her directions is next to impossible.  We ended up getting her a smart phone for that very reason.

Grid cells may have something to do with why some people have amazing senses of direction. 

 

Nobel Prize 2014: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2014/advanced-medicineprize2014.pdf

NY times explanation: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/science/nobel-prize-medicine.html?_r=0

 

Personally I think my grid cells are on vacation, I have absolutely no sense of direction. My husband on the other hand can get himself purposely lost, then immediately find the fastest way back. We don't own a GPS yet even though I want one. He just can't understand how I manage to get lost, ever, he insists you can just feel which way is the right way -- I say, "yeah, of course you think that because you are some kind of mutant homing pigeon." :p

[texasmama]

I can figure it out if I looked at a map of the route, especially any tricky portions, before I go, even if I come upon some unexpected obstacles like one-way streets or construction.  However, I cannot listen to oral directions involving steps and then remember them unless I am able to visualize the steps while being told, preferably in one big picture like a mental map.  I think this represents my visual strengths vs auditory-sequential weaknesses.

 

What I struggle with is making sudden decisions while driving, such as passing by parking spots, when there's traffic behind me.

I am so much better with a map or written directions than oral ones.  Someone giving me directions orally sounds like the teacher on Charlie Brown.

[Myra]

I even have to keep a notebook in the car with directions on how to get to a destination AND then on the next page how to get home from that destination!  It drives me crazy as I'm good in math, with computers, and in most subjects.  And forget oral directions - I must write it down or it's gone!  But on the plus side, everyone comes to me to get detailed directions as mine include visual landmarks, etc.  

[texasmama]

If I go to a new place and try to get home, I inevitably go back the wrong direction.

 

I think we should form a club.  We shall call it the "Smart People with No Sense of Direction Club".

[fairfarmhand]

Grid cells may have something to do with why some people have amazing senses of direction. 

 

Nobel Prize 2014: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2014/advanced-medicineprize2014.pdf

NY times explanation: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/science/nobel-prize-medicine.html?_r=0

 

Personally I think my grid cells are on vacation, I have absolutely no sense of direction. My husband on the other hand can get himself purposely lost, then immediately find the fastest way back. We don't own a GPS yet even though I want one. He just can't understand how I manage to get lost, ever, he insists you can just feel which way is the right way -- I say, "yeah, of course you think that because you are some kind of mutant homing pigeon." :p

I am using this

 

I am so much better with a map or written directions than oral ones.  Someone giving me directions orally sounds like the teacher on Charlie Brown.

Me too.

[fairfarmhand]

And if my dh draws me a map, I have to turn it around on the seat next to me so i can figure out how to turn left or right as I drive.

[monstermama]

My SIL once got lost in a cul-de-sac.  Ok, OK, it was actually one of those new crazy McMansion subdivisions that are all windy roads and cul-de-sacs, but the first thing she said when she called MIL to ask for help was "I'm lost in a cul-de-sac!!!!"

 

I navigate by landmarks.  It takes me forever to remember street names, and I'm pretty bad with highway exits, too.  Unfortunately, we moved somewhere where I pretty much have to take a highway to get anywhere, so without my smartphone I'm pretty much lost, even though we've lived here for two years...

[AmandaVT]

This is me. I'm terrible. When I got to my large high school, I needed my classmates help to find my locker every day for the first month. I was a National Honors Society student and graduated in the top 5% of my class, but if they had moved my locker, I would have had a horrible time trying to find it. 

 

I visited Charleston, SC with my aunt 5 years ago. Every morning when we left our hotel, I'd turn to her and ask what direction we needed to go to head downtown. 4 mornings in a row. 

 

I think my brain missed a couple of connections! I can read maps really well though, much easier than trying to remember oral directions. I always feel like my IQ drops about 75 pts when people start talking directions to me.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I have similar problems.

 

I even get confused when I use the GPS.

 

 

[UncleEJ]

And if my dh draws me a map, I have to turn it around on the seat next to me so i can figure out how to turn left or right as I drive.

Omg, my dad has his GPS set to always orient with north at the top, south at the bottom, ect instead of where you are going at the top. I got so lost in car one time because I was turn the wrong direction each time. Now, if I am in his car, you'll see me turning my head like a puppy that heard a weird sound trying to figure out which way to turn.

[Paige]

I'm terrible as well. I think I have a learning disability with directions. I can get lost anywhere, anytime, but I'm better than I used to be. GPS helps. 

 

My DH always wants to draw me a map. I can read a map- really, I can read it and tell you all about what it means. But I can't follow it very well in the moment. I'd much rather have turn by turn, written directions with distances between each turn.

[Lisbeth]

I have had this problem forever, and it was one of the reasons I found out 

I had adhd.  It can be a symptom.  When I read the other symptoms, I was tested. 

[Ellie]

I don't know what is wrong with you. If we ever go anywhere together, I'll be the driver, k? :D

 

Y'all make me crazy, lol. :smilielol5:

[texasmama]

I don't know what is wrong with you. If we ever go anywhere together, I'll be the driver, k? :D

 

Y'all make me crazy, lol. :smilielol5:

I don't like driving. It makes me nervous if I don't know where I'm going.  You can ALWAYS drive.  A close friend who lives nearby knows that the tipping point of getting me out of the house is to offer to drive.  I like to go places.  I just don't like driving. :lol:

[edithcrawley]

I'm kinda ok with navigating, but I do it by landmarks in familiar areas---I don't know what a lot of the minor roads in our town are actually named. I hate when people say that it is on the corner of Oak and Williams for example, because I have no clue where that is. Now if they say it is near X school, then I'll know exactly where to go. Though I don't like when the landmarks consist of things like "Turn right at the farm where the barn burned down" where if you haven't lived in the area forever you have no idea what they're talking about.  

 

Written directions are ok for me, provided that they are completely accurate---I hate when a street has 5 or 6 names and Google maps gives you three of them, none of which are the ones actually on the sign. (And the signs always tend to be so small and impossible to see til you've almost passed it.) Whenever we go on road trips, we tend to have the printed directions, then pull up the GPS on one of our phones as a backup since it helps us figure out exactly where to turn when things aren't labeled well and helps in cases of a road closure.

 

We always do the paper directions after one memorable instance where we were in Harper's Ferry WV and decided to drive over to Antietam Battlefield that day since we realized it was only about 30-45 min away instead of heading there the next day before going home. Getting there was fine using the directions that were on the brochure that the NPS gave us at Harper's Ferry---but it was a nightmare getting back to our hotel in DC since our written directions that we'd printed out earlier were from Antietam to Indianapolis and there was absolutely no phone signal in that part of Maryland. (You know how on the cell phone coverage maps of the US how there is always that little blank spot in the WV/MD area? That's where we were. :( )

[Guest]

I am that way as well. I get quite a bit of grief about from DH and my dad, who you could drop anywhere on earth, spin in circles and would be able to immediately point north. They are like human compasses.

Same here. Dh is a whiz at spatial intelligence, which is probably why he is the licensed pilot and SCUBA guy. Also why I would not touch either with a ten-foot pole.

 

I thank the gods for the invention of navigation. I use my ipad for navigation almost everywhere now. It is the greatest thing ever. Also, Google maps can alert you to accidents and road construction and can give an alternate route. Make a wrong turn? No problem; it just reroutes and you're golden moments later.

 

For a short while, I was using the Lumosity "brain games." There was a game that DS *loved* - it was orientation-based. I *despised* that game because I would instantly fail. You were a penguin in the game and had to travel a maze back to your igloo quickly. BUT every few seconds, the igloo would spin and now "North" is suddenly South or some other thing. Man, that game was impossible for me!

[Luanne]

I can totally relate to what you are saying.  I've always been this way.  My daughter has been able to direct me around since she was 6.  Her father was the same way.  I can get lost crossing the street.

[Guest]

I do think the dyslexic-thinking brain is so much more likely to be good at directional orientation. When DH gives me a hard time ("Seriously, honey? You have been there twenty times!"), I just remind him that I don't brow-beat him over his complete inability to spell or define the simplest words. You just let me be the dictionary, Bucko, and I'll let you be the GPS.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't know what is wrong with you. If we ever go anywhere together, I'll be the driver, k? :D

 

Y'all make me crazy, lol. :smilielol5:

 

Yes please.  I hate driving.  I mean what fun is it if you aren't sure you'll find wherever it is you want to go?

[fairfarmhand]

I don't know what is wrong with you. If we ever go anywhere together, I'll be the driver, k? :D

 

Y'all make me crazy, lol. :smilielol5:

 

Mostly because of my navigational impairment, driving is incredibly stressful for me.

 

You are SO welcome to drive the whole bus of us to our support group meetings because, frankly, it's probably the only way we will ever get together.

[fairfarmhand]

And please tell me that I'm not the only mama who's heard the following conversation from the back seat.

 

"are we lost?"

 

"no we're just turning around. Again."

[MysteryJen]

When my kids were little, they called a u-turn, a daddy turn.

[Tree Frog]

I only gained this skill when I moved to Milwaukee WI - having the lake location in mind helped me finally stop feeling turned around all the time.

 

Now I can't understand how DH gets lost confused in the tiny town we've lived in for 8 years now...

 

I grew up in CO, where the mountains were always to the west. I could orient myself without any problems. Then we moved to Washington state. The mountains were to the east of us. Totally lost my orientation. California was easy because of the Pacific. Here in Texas, I don't have any landmarks for orientation, so I frequently "learn new things" about my city.

 

I have to remember which way I turned when I entered the restroom. I've been know to exit the wrong direction and walk around the restaurant looking for my table.

[Ellie]

Mostly because of my navigational impairment, driving is incredibly stressful for me.

 

You are SO welcome to drive the whole bus of us to our support group meetings because, frankly, it's probably the only way we will ever get together.

 

TYVM. I'm ready, willing, and able. Just be sure y'all buckle your seat belts and play nice.

 

My former kumu hula (hula teacher) who lived on one of the Hawaiian islands until he was 14 is rilly, rilly bad at giving directions. I'd like to blame it on his having grown up on an island, but y'all are making it clear that island life is no excuse. I've done hula shows all over Texas, and the ones where I drive myself have been heck getting there. "It's at Hudson's Bend." " :blink: Not from here. Do you have more specific directions?" "You know where the 7/11 is on FM620?" " :blink: No. Not from here. Do you have more specific directions? an address? anything?" "[crickets]"

 

::head desk::

 

On the up side, I have learned quite a bit about Texas geography...

[The Girls' Mom]

My above mentioned daughter read the OP.  She just nodded, and kept going...yep.  She said that was her to a T.  

 

Bless her little non-directional heart. 

[Storygirl]

I've always been directionally challenged, too. Even if there is no possible way to get lost, I can discover one. I panic when I am driving somewhere and miss a turn or get sidetracked by a detour. I can't tell you how many times I've called DH in a tizzy to ask him where I am.

 

* I can't follow directions backwards, but must have them written out for both ways.

 

* I don't fully trust GPS (mine has a habit of blinking off at the wrong moment), so I usually have a sheaf of papers from Google maps clutched desperately in my hand while driving.

 

* Even if I have driven somewhere multiple times, I still don't know how to get there.

 

* I worry about parking in city parking garages. First I have to find the right garage. Then I have to find my way out of it and walk to the place that I'm going. Then I have to find my way back to my car. Then I have to find my way out of the garage, and often I don't know what street I will be on until I turn onto it. I hate this particularly.

 

* I have a lot of memories about getting lost. Just thinking about the incidents makes me feel anxious all over again.

 

I agree that it is probably some kind of learning disability. I had no idea that there were so many other people like me! Now I feel a little better.

[texasmama]

I've always been directionally challenged, too. Even if there is no possible way to get lost, I can discover one. I panic when I am driving somewhere and miss a turn or get sidetracked by a detour. I can't tell you how many times I've called DH in a tizzy to ask him where I am.

 

* I can't follow directions backwards, but must have them written out for both ways.

 

* I don't fully trust GPS (mine has a habit of blinking off at the wrong moment), so I usually have a sheaf of papers from Google maps clutched desperately in my hand while driving.

 

* Even if I have driven somewhere multiple times, I still don't know how to get there.

 

* I worry about parking in city parking garages. First I have to find the right garage. Then I have to find my way out of it and walk to the place that I'm going. Then I have to find my way back to my car. Then I have to find my way out of the garage, and often I don't know what street I will be on until I turn onto it. I hate this particularly.

 

* I have a lot of memories about getting lost. Just thinking about the incidents makes me feel anxious all over again.

 

I agree that it is probably some kind of learning disability. I had no idea that there were so many other people like me! Now I feel a little better.

Yes. All the above.

[Wildcat]

To the OP.... nothing is wrong with you. You are just directionally challenged. I am Lego challenged. I know it's nowhere near as frustrating, but it was embarrassing when my kids asked me to play Legos with them and I built four very tall walls and called it a masterpiece. I couldn't even figure out how to make a roof or spaces for windows and a door. :lol:

 

I actually have the opposite issue as you. I don't need a GPS. We can be in a new city and I can find a mall, a grocery store, our hotel, whatever. It both amazes and scares dh. I once freaked out my friend who had taken me out in the country to his aunt's house, then several years later a group of us were going swimming in the quarry near the aunt's and he got lost. I got us there. I had only ever been there when we had gone to his aunt's house. I also don't get lost in the woods. I call it an issue simply because it takes the fun out of some things... like corn mazes.

 

Omg, my dad has his GPS set to always orient with north at the top, south at the bottom, ect instead of where you are going at the top. I got so lost in car one time because I was turn the wrong direction each time. Now, if I am in his car, you'll see me turning my head like a puppy that heard a weird sound trying to figure out which way to turn.

 

I'm sorry but the image I got in my head when I read this is cute.

[Garga]

I have a difficult time remembering which way is left and which way is right. I have to stop and concentrate really hard to be sure which is which. It doesn't come naturally to me at all. About 70% of the time I'm right, but 30% of the time I'm wrong.

 

The tricks about writing with your right hand do help, but only if I remember to slloooooww down and think about it.

[Garga]

Following directions backwards is like torture. I have to think very, very hard to tell whether I turn right or left at each intersection and then 30% of the time I think I'm turning left, but I find I've actually turned right.

[KungFuPanda]

You're home. You MUST have successfully navigated EVERY sticky traffic situation or you'd still be lost somewhere.

[Joules]

I have a difficult time remembering which way is left and which way is right. I have to stop and concentrate really hard to be sure which is which. It doesn't come naturally to me at all. About 70% of the time I'm right, but 30% of the time I'm wrong.

 

The tricks about writing with your right hand do help, but only if I remember to slloooooww down and think about it.

 

The absolutely worst for me is getting lost, turning into a subdivision to turn around, then not remembering if I turned left or right to get in there. So when I come back out there is a 50/50 chance that I will continue on my lost route, instead of going back the way I came.

 

I am a good map reader. If I can memorize a map (overhead view) of an area, I'm fine. If I'm on foot and have a map, I do fine (except walking into lampposts while reading). But directions are just hopeless. I was once told that "You couldn't find your way out of a brown paper bag without a map." Yep, that's me!

[Joules]

I've always been directionally challenged, too. Even if there is no possible way to get lost, I can discover one. I panic when I am driving somewhere and miss a turn or get sidetracked by a detour. I can't tell you how many times I've called DH in a tizzy to ask him where I am.

 

* I can't follow directions backwards, but must have them written out for both ways.

 

* I don't fully trust GPS (mine has a habit of blinking off at the wrong moment), so I usually have a sheaf of papers from Google maps clutched desperately in my hand while driving.

 

* Even if I have driven somewhere multiple times, I still don't know how to get there.

 

* I worry about parking in city parking garages. First I have to find the right garage. Then I have to find my way out of it and walk to the place that I'm going. Then I have to find my way back to my car. Then I have to find my way out of the garage, and often I don't know what street I will be on until I turn onto it. I hate this particularly.

 

* I have a lot of memories about getting lost. Just thinking about the incidents makes me feel anxious all over again.

 

I agree that it is probably some kind of learning disability. I had no idea that there were so many other people like me! Now I feel a little better.

All of the above. I am slowly trying to use Google Maps on my iPhone, but I still print the maps for security. I also have one of those giant map books in the car:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0875306675/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_eB2Svb1C39CTZ

(though from looking at the price maybe I should keep it!)

A small county map is never enough, because when I get lost sometimes I end up a couple of counties over.

[Guest]

Following directions backwards is like torture. I have to think very, very hard to tell whether I turn right or left at each intersection and then 30% of the time I think I'm turning left, but I find I've actually turned right.

Same here. Several years ago, we went to Vermont. I had mapquest directions printed out for the drive up, but I forgot tododrive back. The whole way home, DH kept asking me what was next and I was so frustrated! I kept reading the "going to" directions ad trying to translate it in reverse. Additionally, this is not always totally reversable, especially around New York where the roads get very intimidating.

[Annie G]

I'm so glad to know others are like this. I feel like everyone else has some secret handshake that unlocks the key to navigation. I especially hate it when someone tells me to 'turn north'. Just tell me left or right!

 

Dd went to school about two hours from home and it took me TWO YEARS to learn how to get there without using GPS.  Then the punk went and graduated. I had JUST learned my way around.  

 

 

[texasmama]

Also, going a way that seems familiar but then wondering if it is because I've gotten lost that way before. :lol:

[KungFuPanda]

I think I'm a decent navigator. I 'get' maps and don't mind when people tell me to "go north" etc. I STILL turned the wrong way on a familiar drive the other other night on ROADS I KNOW. I just flaked, turned the wrong direction, and kept on driving because everything felt familiar. I clued in when a major landmark was on the wrong side of the road. I ended up taking a thirty minute detour. It HAPPENS. I wouldn't get too paranoid or consider it a personality flaw.

 

It might help to understand that it's a learned skill. Take some time and make friends with some maps. There can be an order to them that makes sense when you study them. For me, turn-by-turn directions give me no mental picture. I need to SEE the map. A compass in your car can help a great deal.

 

People who are good at navigating don't have the maps memorized. They just have a good mental picture of the general direction they need to head so they only waste brain-space on the turns near the end of their journey. Knowing that, in general, odd numbered roads run north/south with numbers growing larger from west to east and even ones run east/west with numbers growing larger from south to north helps too. Routes that branch off from the interstates have three-digit numbers with the last two being that of the parent route. The first digit will tell you if the road branches off (odd) or loops around (even)

 

So, interstate 95 is north south running because it's odd and waaaaaay east because it's a high number and interstate 5 is in CA because it's a low number. The DC beltway is 495; the first digit is even because it's a loop and it branches from 95.