Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
hyeee as you know I’m the comfy girl. I write all my overthinking and what I think all the time, so at night, as I have insomnia and am not able to sleep, then I think about my imaginary friend who is always there for me when I feel alone, when I’m in any problem.
I was sitting in a classroom, and she was sitting beside me, and she was not another person but a part of my mind [ me ], she always challenged me to argue with me and told me I was being an idiot, she was not real, but she was more present than most people I ever met
Then, for a long time, I thought I had a mental condition, why I always think like this, why I always overthink small things that do not matter, but then I started reading about psychology and made me surprize.
I read in 1 article that the children who create imaginary friends tend to develop stronger social skills, higher empathy and storytelling abilities
DR Marjorie Taylor, a developmental psychologist at the University of Oregon spent years studying children with imaginary companions. Her findings were striking theses childrens were better at understanding others’ perspectives. This skill is called the theory of mind
‘[ the capacity to invent someone and sustain a relationship with them is not a deficit it is an extraordinary feat of the human mind ]
But what happens when these children grow up, and the imaginary friends do not leave? That is where things get truly interesting
Paracosms — the world within the world is a word was coined by Ben Vincent in 1976 and popularised by psychologist Robert Silvey. It is a word for what many creative people build inside their minds, as it refers to a detailed private imaginary world, complete within its own geography, history, characters and rules. These are not daydreamers, they are deeply inhabited
They create a whole comfort and company within their inner world
These were not people escaping reality; they were people building a richer version of it
When the Mind Creates What the World Doesn’t Offer Sometimes, imaginary friends don’t come from a place of creativity or fun. Sometimes they show up because a person is lonely. Because home didn’t feel safe. Because no one around them was really listening. And here’s the thing — that’s not weakness. That’s the mind doing something quietly brilliant. When the outside world can’t give you comfort, your inner world builds it for you. That’s not a problem. That’s survival. To build a friend from nothing means you understood, better than most, what a true friend is supposed to feel like. Acknowledging this doesn’t mean we romanticize pain. It just means we respect the fact that some of the most beautiful inner worlds grew in the hardest soil…….
As a dedicated writer, I delve into the intersections of student commentary, daily life culture. My goal is to share insights that inspire and connect us all
