daydream
It's Saturday morning and up and out of bed by 7am. Not by choice of course, (that would be preposterous and wrong on so many different levels) but because of exam day!
It's 9am and I'm now getting a temporary ID for the one that seemed to magically disappear into thin air. Flash forward past the exam and it's 11am and I intuitively know my brother is excitingly putting final touches on birthday decorations for his 9th birthday party. I, knowing that I can't make it and him not being bothered about my absence is a win-win situation, I guess. So I find the nearest cafe, order a peppermint mocha, followed by a peppermint tea and get some work done for my presentation in 6 hours and my exam in 7. I dig into my bag for earphones to find that there isn't any, to which I think to myself "nothing really bothers me". I listened to conversations, commotions, latte machines whistle and the cutest kid about 3 years old, singing a nasally rendition of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer while wearing his little Santa hat. Yes, I still had a lot of work to do and yes, Christmas is still far far away for me, with this being my first exam and all, but regardless I was in good spirits.
From time to time, I would look out the window and see the happiest people and I was just happy that they were happy; and I instantly felt like I wasn't here, but anywhere else. When 7 pm started rolling around, I headed to my exam knowing that my family was getting all formal and put together for my aunt's annual, exclusive, over the top Christmas party. Again, I was just happy that they were happy. I visualized what it was like last year when we were all together and that seemed to do the trick. I'm very aware of how lame this sounds, but I honestly have nothing but my imagination to work off of here. Every minute worked was inching closer and closer to the season of too many pancakes, Christmas parties, seeing the people I love and oh yeah no more exams. So I happily tucked away in a cafe, used my imagination, and studied like a happy weirdo.
here is my little guide on using imagination...
look out a window
think happy thoughts
be content with the present
think impossible thoughts, you're day dreaming it doesn't have to make any sense
listen to happy music (or in my case just hum them)
pretend your life is a musical
make a gratitude list for the day
make a travel/bucketlist
dream it up like a novel, with characters, a setting, a plot...
get your senses into it, feel the room you would rather be in, the sun on your skin or the smell of cookies; it's really up to you
don't try too hard, it's all about giving your mind a break and letting it take you
like in meditation, no thought is off limits
pretend your an astronaut and nothing can bring you down
get cozy
get into the posture, lean back into your chair, drop your chin in your palm or casually do legs up the wall pose if you have the room to do so
if you're like me and know La La Land from beginning to end, then you get what I'm trying to get at
let go of labels; you are not just a broke student with no time to do anything, you are an explorer, you are a sucker for romance even if all your past relationships kinda sucked. Be curious to other possibilities by letting go of what (and where) you think you're supposed to be.
If done right, the results are bliss. Now only if it was possible to smuggle daydreams into reality? To me, I'm not here. To me it's Sunday, I went to yoga class, grabbed a tea and scribbled in my journal for awhile. I then walked home and enjoying the cool night air against my cheeks. I walked across the bridge, my favorite part of the walk, and felt as if I was on top of the world. My family shows me pictures of their Busime-free weekend and I'm thrilled that they had such a great time. I then end the night by running my second bath of the week; crumbling a sparkly bath bomb under the running water, put my new vanilla candle to use and tune out the podcast in the background to instead daydream of all the possibilities that can be. Even though I actually ended up spending my Sunday night in pyjamas eating leftover pizza and cake from the party, while watching Crazy Rich Asians after taking an extensively long nap, it was fun dreaming up new dreams.
“Is daydreaming a distraction from work, or work a distraction from daydreaming?” ― Marty Rubin
