Growing up I was always in trouble in school and at home because I was never focused and I always "dreamed." I always thought it was some disease I had that I looked at people and things and just made up stories. I could come up with a poem in a few minutes if I was given a topic. But I lived with the pain of being "just a day dreamer."
Ever since I remember I was a dreamer, I constantly thought up stories to tell others. I dreamed all day and let my imagination run wild; I would then sit and write the best stories ever. My imagination was my escape, my therapy and my best friend.
My real life was like a blur and my made-up world always seemed so much more real. I imagined being a traveling hippie with no family and no worldly goods. I traveled across the land and seas and always ran into the"monster" which most of the time seemed so big and scary but I was always able to defeat it. In my mind my inner strength was stronger than all the powers in the world. But the sad thing was in reality I allowed everyone else to take over my life. People made decisions for me and I silently allowed it. I allowed life to pass me by while I was dreaming of the life that I was supposed to have.
The life of a dreamer is what I had lived, until things got so bad that I had to stop dreaming and lost hope. Even during the tough times in life I would just dream and imagine that life was good and I really think it saved me. Dreaming and imagining my life in a different way is what really gave me hope. I would hope for the good times and forget about the bad times. When I was poor I imagined that I would soon have a mansion and I wouldn't worry about money. When people were mean to me I imagined them asking for forgiveness, and it always made my heart lighter.
However there came a time in my life when I stopped dreaming. I couldn't imagine or see anything but the pain and sadness. My heart was in so much pain that my mind couldn't even imagine things anymore. I spent a few years of my life like that and no matter what I did I couldn't imagine good things happening. I became a robot without my imagination. My mind was blank and I lived my reality without any hope for the future. That's when I realized that my dreams were what kept me sane, my stories were what kept me alive. I tried so hard to bring back my imagination of living in a perfect world, but it wouldn't come. It was one of the darkest times of my life and I started to fall into deep depression. I realized that being a day dreamer wasn't just a curse but a blessing.
I eventually picked up my pen again and my imaginary friends brought me back to life and saved me. Many people around me who are logical thinkers, think I'm crazy. I was always told that Im running away from reality and I need to stop day dreaming. But the truth is this is my therapy, the positives that I imagine and the stories I write are what keep me alive and hopeful. I don't know any other way to keep myself sane. Maybe to someone who is an engineer or doctor this makes no sense, but to me my imagination is like my heart and my stories are like the blood that runs through me to keep me alive. I do truly believe that if they are taken away from me I wouldn't survive. So I continue to dream and write and live my life with my imaginary friends by my side.