As I seat myself in the black plastic folding chair placed on the cement walkway of Elder beach, I mentally prepare for the five hours ahead of me waiting for attendees to come and purchase the passes I sell. A notoriously boring job for a cold summer day, where instead of venturing out to the prickly wind chill sweeped Lake Michigan, citizens choose to retreat to the comfort of their own homes. However, the five uneventful lingering hours to come don’t faze me. I believe that they present an opportunity. I believe this is my chance to escape. My scheduled days barely leave an ounce of “me time.” Now, when my only duty is to be sitting in this chair and waiting for the people who won’t come, I can let my imagination carry me away, far off from here. And upon the conclusion of my workday, time will have flown by. I believe I will retreat back to my car more inspired, more excited, and a deeper version of the girl who clocked in five hours earlier.
I believe in imagination.
Make up captivating stories, ponder the meaning of life, discover my opinion on conflicts, and visualize what the world will be like in 100 years, no problem. The power to dream, think, and create ideas is possible thanks to our human biology; however what occupies this space is unique to each individual thanks to one’s imagination. Something no two people could possibly share. One could never actually see, feel, and hear exactly what’s being innovated, desired, debated, or maybe brainstormed in someonelse’s head. I’d rather influence others, than be influenced by them. And having a strong, active perception and perspective enable me to encompass confidence in my beliefs.
I believe that because of this, regardless of what one considers their level of creativity to be, imagination is the most complexly creative thing. After all, all we have to do is think it up. I believe if we let imagination guide our lives, the outcome will be satisfying and unique.

When I think back to my childhood, I realize that it was based on imagination. My movies of choice were those that could feed this hunger of mine to push my thoughts in new directions and stretch my imagination further. Alice in Wonderland, Edward Scissor-hands, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice took over my VCR. As the years pass I’ve kept this part of my brain alive. However, not everyone does. I believe that generally with age attentiveness to imagination regresses, but why? Just because we are older we shouldn’t have to stop the free vacation offered by biology-the escape inside our own heads. It is thus-activating our minds, allowing the wheels to turn and produce unique thoughts-that give us our own exclusive perception of our surrounding reality. No one has the ability to look through our eyes and see the same thing we do. Living in light of this, develops perspective creating our own individual perceptions of the world, inevitably making our individual existences more substantial.

Nowadays about 60% of adult Americans work in small, divided, office compartment areas. These work stations, popularly called “cubicles,” can be the death of adolescent creativity. Our daily grind is made up of less entertaining, more dull tasks than the carefree,unpredictable day of a child. But I believe that they don’t have to be. In fact, I believe that actively incorporating our imagination into seemingly boring situations will shed a new found enticing light on them. I believe we can use our imaginations to let our minds get anything we want out of potential situations. If we were all able to maintain our childhood imagination, allowing ourselves to escape into a increasingly creative world as unique adults where the term “far-fetched” doesn’t exist, we would be more open to others' ideas and therefore extend, stretch, manipulate and develop our individual perspectives-constantly making the world more educated and aware.