This week all I’ve wanted to do is read fantasy novels. I have been so in my head that I’ve been completely oblivious to everything around me. While sitting in class, I’m thinking about the book I’ve been reading, or the book I’ve been writing, or the movie I just watched, etc.
I have always lived in my head. I spent elementary and junior high living my life as someone else. I had a dozen different fantasy lives I could slip into at any moment. The most mundane tasks were part of something larger. Showers at night were showers after a long day of warrior training. Walks with the dog were journeys to palaces far away. Riding my bike was galloping on horseback into war. My swing set was how I rode my pegasus into the sky.
In high school I learned to live in the world everyone else inhabits a bit more. Not that I didn’t still go off to my own worlds - my teachers would probably be horrified to know how many pages of my stories I wrote during their classes - but I learned to balance my worlds better.
While I’ve always been proud of my imagination, at some point I have to be myself. I became better at socializing. In elementary I was the weird kid who’d take her book outside to read during recess. And I was the weird kid who would still pretend to be dogs or horses or whatever with her friends in six grade even though everyone else no longer played imaginary games because they were too “mature” and “grown up” at eleven years old.
For the most part, talking to me when I’m like this is pointless. It takes me a while to process what’s going on, so I’m just registering what someone said a minute later. My roommate doesn’t help. I’ve never met anyone who was in their own world more than me, until I met him. We can be right in the middle of a conversation and then he’s just gone, totally unaware of everything. He puts on action movies and takes me to Barnes & Noble, providing me with endless ways to stay in my own world.
I have to say though, even though my social life pretty much died the last couple of weeks, I’m really enjoying being in fantasy land.
This is totally me too! I'd rather be in a book than real life! One of my favorite shows as a kid was Reading Rainbow and I read on my Kindle when I walk home from the bus. I've almost run into a couple parked cars. Haha! My next piece is actually about this very topic. Glad to know my weirdness has company. ; )
ReplyDeleteWeird... is such a "weird" word because everyone is "weird" to some extent. So if everybody is "weird" doesn't that make us all normal?
ReplyDeleteIn regards to being in a separate world, I can completely relate. That is one of the main reasons the world of theatre and acting is so appealing to me. I can become whatever character I'm playing, whether its a soldier, princess, or stubborn child.
I will never be too "old" or "mature" for make-believe games because that is the career path I chose! :)