Katy's Canvas: Eternal Fantasy

Teebs’ “Bound Ball”

I used to be all about the current fantasy… about making my fantasies a part of real life, about actualizing my desires in the moment I conceive of them. The current fantasy is about what I want, right now, and about chasing it. If I want to dance, I’m going to dance. If I want a cat, I’ll get a cat. If the current fantasy is ice cream, a strawberry sundae it is. Don’t think twice. Ice cream.

While the current fantasy has brought me on many.. scenic routes.. I am starting to think there is something to be said about another type of fantasy, that is, what I call the eternal fantasy.
An eternal fantasy is one which may be flat out impossible (or at least highly unlikely). Speaking with my cat for example. Or dating a celebrity. Or being able to fly. Or actually meeting the Keebler Elves and making cookies with them in their treehouse. It just won’t happen.. I’ll forever be dreaming.
:(

The eternal fantasy, in its impossibility, used to depress me. It was sad to think I would never be able to actually talk to my cat or date a celebrity. But this post is about the fact that I’ve re-evaluated my avoidance of the eternal fantasy. I’m starting to think that maybe, just maybe, fantasizing is the end in itself..

In other words, it doesn’t matter whether or not the fantasy actually comes true. In fact, we derive more pleasure from fantasizing if it doesn’t. I believe it’s the act of fantasizing alone that brings us pleasure. It’s about daydreaming of being with that one person who you could never have, or of walking through your own imaginary kingdom and being addressed as “your majesty.” These thoughts entertain us, make us smile, keep us up at night, even give us goosebumps.

When you fantasize, your dreams become bigger than yourself, they become bigger than reality, and the mere thought of something so great is what makes you love fantasizing about it to begin with. It is the idea of your fantasy that you love, that you get happiness from, and so it should not be upsetting when you realize that the fantasy won’t come true.