Do you fantasize?

I do. It’s a ritual that I do when I go to bed at night. I have an ongoing story that I unfold in my head, like writing an internal book (they are often urban fantasies, stories that place imaginary realities in current settings). It occasionally backfires if I get too involved in an particularity gripping portion of the story – I can’t go to sleep. When a story draws to a conclusion, I start a new one.

all the time bro. all the time. it’s the piscean way.

Yes I do. I think people that have something against it, or denounce it, just really need to stop being so uptight and connect with their inner child.

i do all the time. i have this fantastic life going on in my dreams…

I’m 34, and I do that, too. So if it’s childish, you’re at least not alone. ;-)

I call it “daydreaming” instead of fantasizing, but I think that’s what you mean. Usually it’s to entertain myself when I’m otherwise bored. Generally my daydreams are about stuff like the future, what my day-to-day life would be like if I was married, etc. Sometimes it’s about silly things, like being able to fly (wouldn’t that just be sweet?) that probably do actually have an element of childishness to them.

Sometimes I “play back” scenes from a novel I’ve recently read, in full-on identity with one of the characters.

But sometimes I also fantasize in a negative/pessimistic way, e.g. my boss being mad at me, catching my gf cheating, getting injured while snowboarding.. That’s not very entertaining at all, but I think (hope) that it’s a semi-healthy way of preparing myself for “what if” scenarios where the worst has happened..

A similar thing I occasionally do is that when I’m people-watching somewhere, I will pick a specific person and try to really imagine what their life is like, what their background is, whether they’re in a romantic relationship and, if so, what it’s like, etc. I guess that’s some kind of “other-directed daydreaming”, or something like that.. :)

Oh yeah…

I’m 17…

Quite often. Have since I was little. I see them like little short movies. Fun, innocent entertainment.

Yeah, definitely.

Having an imagination is not unhealthy :)

All the time. I like to write them down.

All the time. I live a whole different life in my mind. It keeps me sane.

While awake, my mind is never quiet. I am either reliving the recent past, talking (in my head) about the near future, or picturing some (usually disturbing) random event. Other times, I am inventing really cool things to make life easier, or even change the world, but can never remember them later. I don’t really see it as fantasizing so much as a constant inner dialogue. It keeps me awake at night, and even bleeds over into my dreams. Sometimes I wish I’d just shut up already!

Always. I do the same thing as syz when I go to bed. And ever since I was little I’ve always imagined being inside the stories I read or at least going to that world and making my own story. I’ve always wished that something out of one of my novels will happen to me.

Sometimes I imagine my own future, but not often. I usually only imagine as far as finishing school, travelling, and university though because I’m still not quite sure what I want to do. I do imagine myself floating around in space though, because that is my ultimate goal.

Sometimes, like jasonjackson, I can’t help imagining bad and/or morbid things and wonder how I would respond. Also like jasonjackson I people watch and imagine what their lives would be like.