Retreat From Reality

                It is only natural for us to slip into an imaginative world of fantasy from time to time.  It’s part of our development as humans.  For children, a huge part of their growth and learning actually comes from pretend play.  Imagination is crucial to children’s learning as it helps them to learn many new concepts and to further develop their cognitive abilities.  I’m sure we can all look back on our childhood and remember pretending to be something that we were not.  It was fun for us to let our fantasies take over for a while.  The possibilities were endless.  We could do anything and be anything we wanted to be.  There was no limit and that was an amazing feeling.

                Even after we’ve grown up, and grown beyond the realm of imaginative play, we still find ourselves going back to fantasies now and again.  Reality for an adult in this world is incredibly tough.  We often face intense stress and it takes a toll on us.  I think many of us attempt to reconnect with our childhood fantasies, or new ones we’ve recently imagined, because it is a stress reliever for us.  Even for just a brief moment, we can escape the harsh realities of this world, and we can retreat into a world that fulfills our every wish and desire.  For me anyway, this gives me a chance to relax a little and to recharge before I take on reality once more.  I think this gives us the strength to carry on when things get tough because maybe there is a possibility (even just a little) of our fantasies becoming reality someday and that motivates us to keep pushing forward.