Make Believe

'Tis the season to believe in magic. To watch miracles come true in Christmas miracle movies. Where twinkle lights make dark streets bright. Warm drinks make you comfy and blankets are plenty. Penguin sweaters emerge from my closet. The days are cold, but the house is cozy. It’s magic.

I spent a lot of time playing make-believe as a child. My mom is a champion and went through all the boxes that were in the basement. (There were a lot of them) Amongst those boxes were my childhood toys. All in mint condition.

I loved Polly Pockets. I enjoyed playing with stuffed animals, dolls, and junk. I had a junk collection. I used to pretend I was a scientist and would use the junk for my experiments. I could entertain myself using anything. I gave pens, silverware, alien creatures, and numbers personalities. I could create anything with my imagination.  

I love to create. One of my favorite quotes is from George Bernard Shaw “Life isn’t about finding yourself. It is about creating yourself.” I used to create worlds as a child. Whether I was acting out a figure that already existed or creating a completely new character. I was the puppet master.

My imagination is powerful. I can take outside information, channel it through my imagination, and create an entirely different scenario out of it. I took a Pooh Pathology test. Each character in Winnie the Pooh represents a different psychological disorder. Pooh is ADD, Piglet is anxiety, Tiger is ADHD, Rabbit is OCD, Roo is autism, Eeyore is depression, and Christopher Robin is schizophrenic. My top result is Christopher Robin. My second highest is a tie between Rabbit, Piglet, and Eeyore.

Sometimes I can get caught up in my head. I create ideas or imagine life to be a certain way that doesn’t match reality. I’m aware that I do it just to escape. Get out of my head by going deeper into my imagination. I did the same thing as a child. I never grew out of playing make-believe. I know I can’t stay inside the world I’ve created in my head. I have to come back to reality eventually.

The cool thing about reality is that there are some moments that are just so perfect, I couldn’t have possibly made them up. There are people in my life that consistently show up for me. There are times I laugh so hard my lungs hurt. There are car rides with my best friends down twinkle light Main street with hot coco from Dunkin’. I can’t make that stuff up. Those are things about reality that put my imagination to shame.

Shout out to all the reality shakers out there- who imagine the world and create it for others to experience. I think every dream starts with some imagination. Also, shout out to people like me who keep their creations to themselves. We don’t always have to do things for other people.