How Humans Balance Dreams and Reality

Have you ever wished you could fly like a bird, wield a magical sword, or explore an alien planet? Dreams of stories like these can often transport us into a far-off world, far removed from our own mundane reality. This is the power of fantasy, the ability to imagine an alternative reality that is rooted in our hopes and dreams. Whether it’s a book, movie, or video game, fantasy has become a significant part of our lives in today’s world.

But is there power in believing in fantasy? Or are dreams just idle musings with no place in the real world? The truth lies in the tension between reality and fantasy, and how humans can use fantasy to enliven their own experience of life. After all, dreams often indicate our deepest wishes and desires, hinting at our need to pursue something grander than ourselves.

For instance, fantasy stories are filled with tales of heroic protagonists, representing our own yearning for greatness and power. Even when characters fail, they often persevere. Heroes provide us with a glimmer of hope that even the smallest individual can challenge powerful forces in times of crisis. This optimism can give us a much-needed push in our own lives when our own world seems overwhelming.

Fantasy also allows us to explore difficult emotions, ranging from profound love to deep sadness. As adults, we may feel too embarrassed or ashamed to express feelings like these. Yet in the fantasy world, it’s perfectly acceptable to feel and express emotions without fear of judgement. In this way, fantasy can provide us with an escape route, a way to experience the full range of our inner lives in a safe, non-threatening space.

Furthermore, fantasy worlds are often populated by plenty of different creatures, cultures, and landscapes, revealing a wide diversity of ways of being. These different visions of the world can help us to question and challenge our beliefs and assumptions, widening our perspectives and opening us up to new possibilities. By engaging with these different points of view, we can discover new ways to look at our own world and the people in it.

Ultimately, believing in fantasy encourages us to dream and strive for something more. We can find comfort in our dreams, an escape from the mundanity of our lives, and inspiration to keep going when the going gets tough. We can also gain an understanding of other people’s realities—different from our own—and discover how these can help us to broaden our minds and enrich our lives.

Though fantasy is just an escape from reality, and isn’t always applicable to the real world, it can still serve as an important source of emotional comfort and inspiration. By giving our imagination room to roam, fantasy can help us to make sense of our feelings and develop an appreciation for different points of views. With the power of fantasy, we can all experience the wonders of our inner and outer worlds, and perhaps even something beyond.

WHEN FANTASY BECOMES AN ADDICTION

An Overview On Fantasy And Addiction

The adoption of a false idea into the mind and the creation of an illusion which we tend to belief as being real is capable of encapsulating our thinking in the long-run and making it an addiction. An illusion coupled with a belief system but restricted to assumptions and imaginations is referred to as a fantasy.

Fantasy can also be explained as a virtual creative ability of the human brain, to process an information that appears to be real to the mind and is very applicable in the real world, however, it is restricted to the synthetic imagination of the individual. It deals with processing real life situations in the mind and believing that, this is how they consistently occur in the real life, whereas they might not really be occurring as imagined. It could happen due to past, current or expected happenings.

Addiction on the other hand, is a state of being psychologically or physically attached to a particular activity. It could be in form of physical activities or illusionary activities. It results from consistent and regular participation in a particular activity. In light of this, we may like to look into internet addiction. According to “Abnormal Psychology”, internet addiction is characterized by an impulse control state or condition that, if mistakenly left unchecked, alters an addict’s neurotransmitters in their brain while they employ and engage their depravity.

How Fantasy Eventually Becomes And Addiction

In the case of fantasy, it may be as a result of consistent and constant practice of the act, when left unchecked and thereby resulting to a reconfiguration of the individual’s mind-set, to be stereotyped to a new pattern of thinking. As fantasy appears to be a mind activity that controls the thoughts and habit of an individual, so is addiction a mind reconfiguration that happens in the brain, and imbibes the individual with a new habit and character on how things are to be done in the conventional.

How To Get Over Addiction

Since addiction is an activity of the mind, that is caused by consistent rational exercises, that occurs as a result of the absence of a regular checking as earlier explained, in order to curb such addiction caused by fantasizing, it will equally require a conscious and consistent checking and scrutiny in order to reconfigure the mind of the person. It takes conscious hard work to redirect the person’s thoughts that is caught up in the world of fantasy.

WHEN FANTASIZING BECOMES AN UNHEALTHY THOUGHT PATTERN

Fantasizing has to do with processing various thoughts in your mind. These thoughts are most times played out at your will. For example, you could fantasize to be a celebrity who is well known, and would always be applauded whenever you walk around. This fantasy could play out continuously in your thoughts, and you might end up being positively motivated to chase that dream. In other cases, when you discover that it is almost impossible for you to achieve this, you could be driven to carry out acts which can be regarded as dangerous and nefarious all because you want an acclaimed name for yourself.

Fantasizing becomes an unhealthy thought pattern when these thoughts which go on in your head remain for a long time without materializing into something productive. This could make someone lose it totally and resort to other quicker but dangerous methods. Also, in a case where one fantasizes being like a particular celebrity, it might get so bad that such person could goes to unimaginable lengths to ensure that he or she would be seen in that same light.

Also, another unhealthy thought pattern for fantasizing, is replacing friendships and relationships made in reality, with imaginations. One mistake people always make is, they spend hours fantasizing about having the right set of friends who they can always spend quality time with and with whom they can always trust wholeheartedly. Well in reality, friends like that do not exist, no one is totally infallible as we all have shortcomings which are bound to showcase themselves at any point in time.

The best thing which can be done in this case, is learning to meet people. It could start with asking for their names, then their hobbies could follow and from there, you would be surprised to discover that you are on your way to building long-lasting relationships. So, it is important that inasmuch as we may love to fantasize, we should be careful of not allowing these fantasies take over from reality. Unhealthy thoughts patterns are what give rise to addictions, and addictions could lead to various occurrences which would ultimately lead to death.

Major factors which aid fantasizing such as movies, social media, books and the likes, should be avoided if they are starting to replace the essence of reality in our lives.

THE PROBLEM OF ESCAPING INTO FANTASY

A fantasy can be said to be an imagined thought which can simply be anything. Someone who fantasizes frequently, is not too worried about the reality. Taking a look at the football fantasy league, you would have the full opportunity of creating your own team according to your preferred specifications. You are more or less like the God of the league who set things in place according to his own desire.

Fantasies are futuristic related, they involve our projected goals and dreams. They could be physical in some cases, romantic or professional. You could see yourself changing a physical appearance or getting married in the most glamorous style. The concept of fantasy is very important, as it determines to an extent how our lives are driven. This could be a platform for us to properly work on our goals and be motivated to achieve them.

Fantasizing is good. However, the problem with it is, people get dejected when they find out that time has been wasted on fantasizing because in the reality, nothing has been achieved. This shows that such person does not have a clear aim in life.

You know that fantasizing has crossed the line when you discover that you start substituting it for real-life relationships and friendships. The fact remains that having quality relationships with people counts a lot and there are many benefits inherent in it. Someone who spends much time fantasizing would find it hard to socialize and make healthy relationships as one advances in age.

It also becomes unhealthy when it begins to damage you both psychologically and physically. You could begin to imagine some kind of patterns which might be harmful to your health in the long run. You might see yourself as someone who would not succeed and it could lead you to do something crazy. This occurs when you rethink and ponder on this over and over again.

The negative side of fantasizing is, it has often made people depressed, and they end up being addicted to drugs or alcohol which would make them feel better. If care is not taken, such person could be driven to commit suicide. Fantasizing should be done with a view to relieving stress and pondering on ideas which can make you a better person.

HOW FILMS, BOOKS AND MEDIA ENCOURAGE FANTASIZING

One fact about fantasizing is, it does not just happen in an instant from an unknown source. There is always an origin behind it. You cannot just fantasize ordinarily, there has to be a propelling force behind it. People have often had different views about fantasizing. Some have termed it to be good while others have seen fantasizing to be something which could drive someone to commit some actions, which are detrimental to your health.

THE ROLE OF FILMS/BOOKS IN FANTASIZING

Films and books play a pivotal role in fantasizing. Taking a novel for example, there are certain characters in a novel which might interest you. Their actions in the novel could serve as a source of motivation for you, and you might find yourself replicating these actions in the physical. It could also get to the extent that you would idolize such character and even give reasons for the character’s misdemeanor because you are totally taken to this character.

The same thing applies to films. In this case, fantasizing could be more effective unlike book. You fall in love with probably the protagonist of the film, and you could eventually find yourself trying to behave in every single way like him. If care is not taken, you would find out that you keep on replaying the film over and over again in order to perfectly integrate this character’s lifestyle into your being.

THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN FANTASIZING

Another strong factor responsible for fantasizing which is closely related to films and books, is the media. Now, this looks like a proper representation of reality. People all over the world who are either ardent or passive users of the media would surely have someone they look up to in the media world. It could be an artiste, a songwriter, a sportsman amongst others. So for this particular person, it would be easier for you to keep up with the lifestyle of such person, because the media has made it possible.

The person’s lifestyle would be spread out before you for the purpose of emulation. The availability of social media platforms has made it easier for you to check up on your favorite celebrity and keep up with their way of life.
It then becomes dangerous when you discover that it is unable to keep up with their lifestyle, and you start trying out unpleasant acts in order to make sure you are just like them.

FANTASY VERSUS REALITY

COMPARING AND BALANCING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FANTASY AND REALITY

An Exposition Into The Concept Of Fantasy And Reality

Expressing the difference between fantasy and reality might be a little difficult due to the complexity of both activities. At times, people become lost in an illusion due to somethings that they might be thinking of, either they have already happened, are currently happening, are expected to happen in the future, or are expected to have happened.

An illusion is similar to fantasy. However, it is slightly different from a fantasy, it is a mere false impression or an idea that appears to seem as a current happening or better put a reality, while a fantasy is an idea that is very much applicable in the real word but is limited to imagination. A fantasy basically is a baseless idea that is being imagined and believed by an individual to be a reality, letting aside all other possible assumptions.

Reality on the other hand, is the current or past state of things as they happen or as they exist. It does not have anything to do with the future or anything that is to happen in the future time. It is characterized by activities that are currently happening and activities that already existed in the past. It is not a belief nor an assumption, it is the actual materialization of things as they happen.

How Fantasy Differs From Reality

People often find it difficult to strike a balance between fantasy and reality. The moment a person starts fantasizing about something, there is a high tendency that a belief is being created already, such belief is what makes the person mistake fantasy with what is happening in the real world (reality). From study and research, such fantasies are propelled by past undesired happening or unexpected happenings, which are now patterned into an imagination of what the person expects to see in the future, and that is when the person starts having problems with balancing fantasy with reality.

Balancing Fantasy With Reality

In order to get out of such imagination, one needs to learn from the past experience and start placing more focus on what is actually happening, instead of ruminating and reflecting on those past experiences without a way forward. It might actually seem to be hard, trying to get over such a complex combination of mind thoughts, but doing that is actually for the best. It could happen in the case of human relationship, where close friends and partners tend to stop being in talking terms with each other due to some shortfalls. It is really important that such persons quickly wake up from the fantasy, and face the reality to utilize time.