Imagination Isn't Just Child's Play

I’m a dreamer, always have been and ever will be, and as such, I have a very active imagination.  This can sometimes be a curse, especially when you are imagining the worst possible thing that could happen, but it can also be a blessing, and as a writer, I find it is more often a blessing than a curse. 

In my younger years, when I was shy and withdrawn, I would spend hours on end in the privacy of my room, pretending to be anyone or anything else.  Not that there was too much wrong with who I was and with my life in general, but somehow I wanted more and my imagination brought it to me.  I felt more comfortable living in my imagination than living in my humdrum life and got more pleasure from imaginary friends than from the real ones I had.

Things have changed since then, I grew up and my imagination got silenced for a short period of time as I went about living in the serious world of a grown-up man, but I never totally shelved my imagination, I kept parts of it handy, almost as a security blanket.  I’m glad I did because as a writer, it has become my greatest asset.

There is something amazing about being able to immerse me, at will, into the lives of a newly developed character, to think as he/she thinks, and to vicariously live the story through them.  Most of my short stories were play-acted by me before they were written, and good, bad, or indifferent, I am invested in each of those stories like a father is invested in the lives of his children.

Now, it’s not only in writing that my imagination serves me well, it is also an asset when reading.  I find that I can easily immerse myself into any story I read, with exceptions when it comes to bad stories, and it is like I’m a participant in the story, and the world the other has created.  I am not unique in this way, many of the readers I speak to can do the same, and are grateful for the imagination to do so.

Imagination isn’t just child’s play, and it isn’t to be feared, it serves a fantastic purpose in each of our lives.  It has applications outside of reading and writing as well, it allows us to assess and re-evaluate any situation we find ourselves in, and to dream up a constructive solution; it helps us to survive dull, boring moments; and it fills us with hope.  Of all the blessings I have been given, I am most thankful for my imagination.  Long live my imagination.