Space inside my head

I often find myself staring off into the distance, lost in thought about nothing in particular. It's a zoning out of sorts, I guess; a temporary escape to a private, quiet space in my head no one else can access.

It's a habit I've had for as long as I can remember, but if you were to ask me whether this habit is something I consider beneficial or destructive, I wouldn't be able to tell you.

And if you were to ask me to pinpoint exactly what I was thinking about, more often than not I wouldn't be able to answer that question either.

But I'm convinced we all have a space like this; a little world. a little imaginary tree-fort that we can tuck ourselves away in when need be.

It's where we dream and ask questions, form ideas of who we are and mull over the information we find important. It's the space where we replay the triumphs and failures of the day.

Whether we're sitting in our classrooms - our teacher's lectures going in one ear and spilling out the other; or as we're on the bus, watching the sunset fly across the windows; or when we're lying in our beds staring at the ceiling in the dark trying to get to sleep, these pensive moments are moments of sweet peace.

This time to think, ponder and reflect is a necessity, especially for us young people. Our choices, our future and our identity depend on it.

However (and I've learned this the hard way), these trips around our imagination should be controlled to a certain extent, especially when there are pressing matters. such as homework, to deal with.

Sure, camping out in our own world is entertaining.

We're free to fantasize the life we wish we lived, the things we wish we owned, the opportunities we wish were presented to us, or the friends we wish we had.

We can feel sorry for ourselves and blow everything out of proportion so that we are always the heroes in our everyday, ordinary adventures.

But these little episodes are also known as distractions - distractions we don't always have time for.

As students with mounting responsibilities (not to mention midterms), learning to control our imagination and discipline our brain is fundamental to our success as students and human beings.

This definitely doesn't mean turning off our creative side or becoming mindless robots.

It just means chan-neling that talent and energy every chance we get into something productive. This of course, is a lot easier said than done.

It's a constant battle. So just know you're not alone, and that as long as you're struggling, you're a normal human being.

Anna Toth is a recent graduate of Burnett secondary and is in her first year at UBC.