Rekindling our spark in a world that insists on growing up

One thing I can say about myself is that I have a fairly active imagination. When I turned around eighteen or nineteen, I assumed like most people that I had to grow up and that growing up meant being serious and being stressed out all the time. I didn’t really think much of it. 

Although there is a degree of imagination needed as a writer, even when all I happen to be working on is a fanfic instead of my novel, both require a bit of flexibility in thought. For instance, we’ll use Diablo since a new one is coming up quickly. 

If someone writes a story about Diablo 2, for instance, and brings no new angle or at least a character seen in some way that’s different from what’s presented in game, it’s just a retelling, and you might find people would rather play the game than read your story that’s just the same experience. 

To tell a story from a different perspective means you have to work your imagination. In a different example, I read a while back that planning a vacation (even if you know you’ll never take it) provides almost the same benefits as going on the vacation. 

This is perfect for me. I’ve been on one vacation in my whole life, but I dream of seeing the world. Why not imagine a trip to France, plan out what I would do each day for a week, where I would go, what I would see and eat. I’d imagine the smells I might experience in an out of the way bakery. Just like that. 

I advocate we make time to throw down our expectations of what it means to be an adult and reclaim that piece of ourselves. If you happen to be reading this thinking it sounds silly and childish, maybe it is, maybe not. Doesn’t it require a little bit of imagination to do something like build a rocket to launch into space? Any innovation required imagination somewhere along the line. 

Disney/Pixar has made an empire of imagination, think of your favorite and try to picture how boring it would be without it. Wall-e without imagination would probably just be a robot cleaning up garbage. There’s hardly anything magical about that, not at a time when robotics are constantly evolving to do more amazing things. 

My point is this: we should embrace imagination, foster creativity by making use of it. Plan out your dream vacation. Imagine a night time get together around a fire pit with a beer in one hand and a marshmallow roasting in the other. Picture how it smells as you put together a s’more. What would you talk about? How would your s’more taste? Is it golden perfection, slightly burnt? Who is it you imagine sitting there with you? 

Spend even just ten minutes thinking over the details of it all, take a deep breath. Don’t you feel a little bit better? A little less stressed?