In the pale light of morning, do you know where you are?

[Svrtnsse]

Often, in books I read, the process of waking up is accompanied by a description of how the character in question for a moment doesn't know where they are. Mostly, or maybe even always, this is when they're waking up in locations or beds they haven't been or slept in before.
I've not given it much though in the past. It's one of those things that are just there and which you take for granted. As I'm writing my own morning scene I'm questioning it though. I can't remember ever having felt like that. As I recall I always know where I am when I wake up. I may not know what time it is and on some occasions if it's evening or morning. But I always know where I am.

What's it like for you?

 

[Nihal]

For years I slept in the same bed in the same location in the same room. Then for many months it changed, yet sometimes—even several months later—I would suffer a lapse and believe I was in the same old room, only to wake up disoriented because the wall was in the wrong side, making the acoustic weird and the door wasn't where I expected it was. I don't know if I didn't sleep in another places for long enough to experience this there too or if it happened because my new room was really similar to the old one, but with a different furniture placement.

Also, I rarely sleep or take a nap during the day, so when I do I wake up disoriented too, specially when I sleep in my own bed. Curiously the first hint of not being a new morning is feeling too hot (blankets and daytime doesn't mix there), the oddness always triggers my memory.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Interestingly enough, I have also had this sense of disorientation, even in my own bed. Sometimes I have very vivid dreams, and I will literally wake up not knowing if I am awake or asleep.

And then there is my personal favorite, when I wake up, get showered and dressed and out the door... only to wake up and have to do it all over again! >.<

 

[Penpilot]

I get those moments of disorientation once in a while. Usually after a long stretch of where I'm working hard on something. One time I woke up and drove to work only to realize it was Saturday.

 

[advait98]

All the time. The brain's just waking up, it's allowed a few lapses. It's disoriented about most things, you'd have a hard time recalling your name. Once when I woke up , I thought I was an Egyptian demigod (don't ask, I was really sick).

So surely, not knowing where you are seems trivial in front of that. The brain's just restarting, getting a few moments to gather consciousness and information.

 

[Weaver]

The first thing that came to mind when I read the original post was a line from a novel, something about the MC being aware that he was in his own bed before he was aware of anything else. (And as it turned out, he was in his own bed -- in a house he hadn't lived in for a while)...

The only times when I've felt disoriented upon waking have been when I came up rather abruptly from a vivid dream in which I was not in my own viewpoint. If I'm not me in a dream, I may not recognize my own bed (or my own hotel room, or whatever) right at first.

But then, my cats wouldn't be waking me up by stomping my chest in the morning if I was someplace unfamiliar, so that probably helps.

 

[Jess A]

Hmm that usually happens when I am travelling - I wake up on the other side of the world, expecting to wake up in Australia to a different bedroom, different season. I still get the seasons confused though, because I've been away most years lately in the middle of the year. I feel like it should be summer, but it's pleasantly chilly outdoors!

If I've been in a place for an extended period of time, even just several days in one area, no. I generally wake fairly aware of where I am. But if my alarm clock tears me out of a dream I can definitely be disoriented and think I am still in that dream, or the dream-scape. I've also experienced lucid dreams where I've woken myself on purpose and the dream image merges (literally) into my bookshelf near my bed which is where I look when I wake up. Fairly disorienting.

In my story, I think the only time I've got a scene like that is when my shape-shifter wakes in a strange bed, because my witches found him injured and unconscious in the forest. Since he is somewhat aggressive, it's quite a fun little scene. Perhaps not so much for the poor witches who have to put up with his ungrateful anger. But thinking about it, I guess it'd be realistic for my characters to be a little disoriented if travelling constantly, especially Kirra who is my youngest and who has lived in the same place most of her life. Doesn't seem to serve the plot though, so it hasn't come up.

Something else I will also mention is that if I wake up earlier than the time I want to get up, I tend to have dozens of scattered little dreams in between wakefulness. Sometimes lucid dreams. That could be something interesting for a story and a character, depending on the reason it happens, or whether it tells us something about that person.

 

[Filk]

I used to wake up after a night of drinking and experience this all the time i.e. waking up in jail, random people's houses, public places, etc. It is quite alarming, and I would often wonder where I was. However, if I sleep somewhere out of the ordinary and remember going to bed, then I may have a brief moment of disorientation when I wake up. It only lasts about a second or two and doesn't always happen, but there is never a prolonged period of confusion.

 

[Chilari]

Occasionally, when half-asleep in the middle of the night or as I'm starting to wake up, I might hear a noise and assume "oh, that's mum coming up to check on me/ on her way to the study", before remembering that no, I'm not in my parents' house any more. I did this all through uni, even fourth year.

Sometimes when I wake up, usually in unfamiliar places, I think something like "oh yeah, I'm at [location]" as if while sleeping I'd forgotten. This even happened in my own bedroom at my parents house - the one I expect to be in - when I was living there last year because the previous summer mum had rearranged my furniture, including the bed position, so it wasn't familiar any more - the door and walls and stuff weren't where I expected them. And it still occasionally happens at my fiance's mum's house even though I've been there a year now. But mostly this happens when sleeping in unfamiliar places, hotels and friends' houses etc. Once I'm actually awake, though, I know where I am, it just takes a second or two while I'm still groggy. My default position, the place I expect to be 90% of the time this happens, is where my bed in my parents house was between 2004 and 2011.

 

[Grimwen]

Hee, I love the title of this thread, I just had to check it out

Not knowing where I am when I wake up happens to me a lot, mostly, I think, because I've moved and traveled a lot in my life, so it's the 'waking up in a strange place' thing other people described here. But it happens more often when I'm kinda sleep-deprived and sleep really deeply as a result - that's when I wake up going all 'What's that? What's that noise? What's going on?' at the alarm clock. And yeah, like Filk, alcohol also sometimes has that effect the morning after... And then there were a few weird times that I can't quite remember myself, when my girlfriend said I woke up in the middle of the night, panicking and apparently not knowing where I was or recognizing her. -__-

I'm guessing it depends on the kind of person, and his/her circumstances... It seems less likely to happen to someone who's super-logical and relies only on his/her senses, very clear-minded and organized, doesn't it? Maybe that's just me. But if I think of stories, being confused when waking up does seem to go with stuff like head trauma, intense emotional stress or stuff like that. For example, a character being confronted with something out of his/her past may suddenly dream about the past and then wake up, somehow thinking they're a little kid again or something like that. And yeah, dreams, good or bad, are usually linked to waking up all confused.

 

[Kit]

OP.... get out a sleeping bag and sleep in different parts of your house every night.

I did this for a long while while I was dealing with an emotional trauma.... those few moments of disorientation first thing upon awakening were the only moments I was able to get out from under the crushing and all-consuming grief.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Ouch. That's harsh.
But if it worked, it worked.

I still can't actually remember waking up and not knowing where I was, ever.
The closest is once, about twelve years ago, when I woke up on a balcony on Staten Island and couldn't tell if it was evening or morning.

 

[phillipsauthor]

Occasionally, when half-asleep in the middle of the night or as I'm starting to wake up, I might hear a noise and assume "oh, that's mum coming up to check on me/ on her way to the study", before remembering that no, I'm not in my parents' house any more. I did this all through uni, even fourth year.

Sometimes when I wake up, usually in unfamiliar places, I think something like "oh yeah, I'm at [location]" as if while sleeping I'd forgotten. This even happened in my own bedroom at my parents house - the one I expect to be in - when I was living there last year because the previous summer mum had rearranged my furniture, including the bed position, so it wasn't familiar any more - the door and walls and stuff weren't where I expected them. And it still occasionally happens at my fiance's mum's house even though I've been there a year now. But mostly this happens when sleeping in unfamiliar places, hotels and friends' houses etc. Once I'm actually awake, though, I know where I am, it just takes a second or two while I'm still groggy. My default position, the place I expect to be 90% of the time this happens, is where my bed in my parents house was between 2004 and 2011.

This has been very much my experience as well. The first few days after arriving somewhere, it has often happened that I'll be half-awake and think I know exactly where I am, (e.g. "in my dorm room"), when I'm actually back at home. Only once or twice have I rolled over and slapped my hand into a wall that I thought was on the other side of the bed...

 

[Weaver]

I'm guessing it depends on the kind of person, and his/her circumstances... It seems less likely to happen to someone who's super-logical and relies only on his/her senses, very clear-minded and organized, doesn't it?

I'd have to disagree, since I don't usually suffer from disorientation upon waking, and I'm NOT logical, clear-minded or organized. The phrase "scatter-brained idiot" has been used to describe me.

But if I think of stories, being confused when waking up does seem to go with stuff like head trauma, intense emotional stress or stuff like that.

All of the above?