‘It’s only make believe’
My brother Sean was blessed with a colourful and vivid imagination as a child. Sean told stories of people he met on the road, treats the teacher gave him in school and secret places he could go to that nobody else knew about.
Sean played with what he named ‘gone horses’ that he could see in sunbeams and he made up stories of his adventures on going to neighbour’s houses. To my eternal shame, my brother Willie and I, being older and knowing everything, used to confront and contradict Sean on his little bit of fantasy escapism.
The worst crime in our house was not telling the truth and, in our childish ignorance, we used to call out Sean on his ‘lies’… not realising that he was the smart one with his escape route from drudgery.
Conway Twitty had a hit song, ‘It’s only make believe’, and while Conway’s make believe was being back in the arms of his lover, his is another story of being able to remove oneself even momentarily from a less pleasant reality. It is undeniable that the benefit of a little fantasy escape or ‘make believe’ can be a useful tool against the trials and tribulations of a mundane everyday life.
Like so much else in life, that indulgence comes with a health warning… everything in moderation. We are not suggesting that anybody should set off to live in a fantasy world; what we are saying is that playing around with a little bit of make believe can only be good for resting the head and giving a boost to the battery of life. Like Sean, that little period of fantasy escapism can only be good.
Buying a Lotto ticket is a good investment. You are unlikely to win (this being said; I recently interviewed a woman for something I’m writing because Anne won the Lotto… twice!) but the great return from your ticket purchase is that you can dream; you can daydream about how you will spend the money; to keep it quiet or not; who to invite to the party or maybe invite on a cruise. The payoff here is that for the duration of those short fantasy trips, your problems have all disappeared.
Tell me… have you never fantasised about finding an old suitcase packed to bulging with used bank notes? Probably left there for a pick-up by some drug gang until you accidentally came across it when nobody looking? Off you pop, heart beating until you get home without meeting another soul,… and nobody will ever know about this? Thought so…!
Like we said, we are not advocating mental emigration from the real world, just a temporary escape akin to taking your body away for a bit of a break. The suggestion being that engaging in the odd little bit of fantasy can be good for the brain.
When you fantasise about something good, reality is suspended and you get a short, free, feel good dividend. Stress is reduced and the body battery receives a boost. In our fantasy world, good always triumphs over evil. You or I, in our mind’s eye, could rule the world, exalt the good and punish the wicked in a fairer manner than how mankind is regulated the way things are.
Somebody said one time that reality is a prison and that it is our duty to escape to the odd bit of fantasy in order to seek some joy. This is not about running away from life, but rather using the mental tools to live it better. Far from being childish or escapist, fantasy acts as a tactical retreat that allows the mind to decompress from daily stresses and returning with a refreshed perspective. And again, what harm is it doing? It is safe emotional exploration where the ‘thinker’ can experience high-stakes fear, excitement, love and wonderment in the safe environment of their own head.
Daydreaming is closely related to fantasising, but is different insofar as daydreaming is just a wandering mind that can hit on its own distraction. That will come as a surprise to you, but it is estimated that people spend half of their waking hours with their minds wandering. While the mind is wandering, the brain reduces resources for processing outside information and instead increases activity associated with internal self referential thoughts. We are wandering a bit here…
I suppose this fanciful thought is related closely enough to the subject that we can finish up with it. A good few years ago, the last question I was asked in a newspaper profile article whether I had any unfulfilled dream; and here was my answer; ‘To watch every inch of the flight of the ball from 60 yards out as it sails over the bar to give Westmeath a one point lead over Kilkenny in injury time in the Leinster Hurling Final.’
Don’t Forget
You can always tell luck from ability by its duration.