[INFJ] Childhood Imagination

ThomasJ79

ThomasJ79

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I figure we were all creative, imaginative children in our own way. How did your imagination manifest itself? Drawing? Painting? Writing? Imaginative Play? Reading?

I would often get lost in the plot in the books I read, made up my own stories, played with action figures(He-man, ninja turtles anyone?), did pretend play with my friends like pretending to be characters from the cartoons we watched, I even created and drew my own cartoon characters. What stood out the most was imagining I was someone else, like one of the characters I created or pretending I was only an inch tall or invisible for a day. As I was a little older I read a lot of comic books and enjoyed fantasy. I was also into science very early in life and knowing that there was a universe filled with unexplored planets, solar systems, and galaxies really fueled my imagination. Slowly learning about life, science, and many different topics of interest began to replace the strong imagination I had as a kid, but I do feel that I still have one.
 
Drawing...sometimes writing.
There were other kids around but no imagination really came into games we played.
 
I'd play by myself all the characters in my elaborate stories, draw sort of comics and when I was able to read would sit on my bedroom floor after school with history and supernatural books. Then I'd just lay down and imagine myself in all the historical scenarios like gory battles, sinister poisonings and executions. Then all the ghosts from said battles, poisonings and executions. I had a copy of the original brothers Grimm my parents didn't know about. I was that kind of kid.
 
i read a lot, wrote a lot of poetry, drew a lot, listened to a lot of music in the dark too
i lived in a very rich fantasy world as a kid. i was a loner, often going off exploring in the woods, or hanging out in my room, usually in the dark. i thought i was magic when i was a kid too. seriously. i would burn things and keep the ashes in a matchbox. i figured it was magic too.
i'm better now
lol
 
The strength of my imagination hasn't changed from when I was a child. I can close my eyes and create vivid objects and places. When I'm reading it often feels like I'm stepping from one world into another. When I'm especially engrossed I almost forget where and who I am.

It can be an incredible gift, but I sometimes worry that I'll get completely absorbed by it and lose touch with reality.
 
Throughout my childhood i really enjoyed playing with my hands, as if they were living animals, i had a lot of shapes i that i developed techniques to do. I also used to drum on my body and on tables and walls and dishes and what not.
 
I think I was most creative as a kid when falling asleep. I would dream up a world, like maybe a really fun waterpark, to explore as I drifted off to sleep. Then the next morning I would try to recreate that world with my toys. I still do this as an adult, but usually about more realistic things, like what I'd like to happen at an event I'm looking forward to. And much as I couldn't recreate with my toys the wonderful world I had in my mind, I usually can't recreate what I fantasize about BUT that doesn't stop me from trying.
 
All of the things.

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I acted out large expansive fantasies with my toys, some of them romantic LOL. I also had a love of nature from an early age and I think this fuelled my imagination, or at least the content of my imagination. I was perfectly at peace being alone in the garden, just observing the birds and wildflowers and caterpillars and sunlight and wondering what it all could mean.
 
Jimmers said:
I figure we were all creative, imaginative children in our own way. How did your imagination manifest itself? Drawing? Painting? Writing? Imaginative Play? Reading?

I would often get lost in the plot in the books I read, made up my own stories, played with action figures(He-man, ninja turtles anyone?), did pretend play with my friends like pretending to be characters from the cartoons we watched, I even created and drew my own cartoon characters. What stood out the most was imagining I was someone else, like one of the characters I created or pretending I was only an inch tall or invisible for a day. As I was a little older I read a lot of comic books and enjoyed fantasy. I was also into science very early in life and knowing that there was a universe filled with unexplored planets, solar systems, and galaxies really fueled my imagination. Slowly learning about life, science, and many different topics of interest began to replace the strong imagination I had as a kid, but I do feel that I still have one.
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Yes, I relate to all of the above.

Specifically, some of my favorite activities were:

1. Drawing elaborate maps of made-up worlds.

2. Creating very elaborate scenes with action figures, toys, etc. and even creating my own props, weapons, vehicles, etc. out of found materials. (hybrids of various action figures, toys, etc. as well as stuff made from scratch.) Whole towns and cites, with buildings made of boxes, roads, rivers, streams. Sometimes castles made of boxes, with working parts, like a drawbridge that really opens and closes with levers and pulleys, etc.

3. Roaming the woods and pretending I was some kind of ninja spy/medeival adventurer on a quest.

4. Performing and recording comedy skits with my brothers.

5. Creating my own illustrated stories and comic books.


.....Stuff like that.

I REALLY enjoyed my childhood. :)
 
Bump!

I went over to mom's house the other day and she had a few boxes filled with artwork of mine that she has kept and wanted to know if I wanted them, artwork that I have long forgotten about. They were filled with some of my earliest artwork. I have forgotten the type of imagination I had a child. My sketchbooks from 2-6th grade had objects with hidden object in them or superimposed. Some of the characters I created came from patterns I saw in clouds and in the wood grain on doors. Most of my art were abstract pieces. I have completely forgotten about many of them and going through them brought back a flood of memories. I have realized that I still have the same type of imagination, even as an adult, but feel like I can't express it as it is probably too weird. Why do I care about this? I'm really self-conscious about it. Probably my shyness and social pressures. Something I need to overcome to feel complete and whole.
 
Oh, good thread to add to!

As a child I had a vivid imagination. I spent most of my time being creative by drawing, writing stories, choreographing dances with my ballet friends, writing poetry and music and dreaming up imaginary friends and animals. I was a constant daydreamer in school and was always getting told off for staring out the window oblivious to what the teacher was talking about!

I also had a technical bent towards inventing robots, computer programs and flying machines (my INTJ friend and I spent many happy hours designing planes, spaceships and parachutes and then launching ourselves off the roof of the house!) I also used to spend hours with a tape recorder inventing stories then recording them with sound fx. I later became a sound engineer and got to do this for a living so that was a dream come true.

Would love to hear if any other INFJs had a technical bent as children. :)
 
My imagination wasn't left behind in childhood. It's still alive and well, which can be both a good and a bad thing... there are some things I would rather not imagine.
 
ThomasJ79 said:
I have realized that I still have the same type of imagination, even as an adult, but feel like I can't express it as it is probably too weird. Why do I care about this? I'm really self-conscious about it. Probably my shyness and social pressures. Something I need to overcome to feel complete and whole.
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I can relate to that. I channel mine into things that are socially accepted like art, music, writing novels, inventing technical solutions at work. But in my early adulthood I felt shy about doing that as society seems to value being pragmatic and practical over being creative, imaginative and arty. In recent years I've gone back to being creative because it completes who I am as a person even though there's pressure on me from my parents to be a highly successful, corporate hotshot earning mega money and status symbols.
 
Mungbean said:
Oh, good thread to add to!

As a child I had a vivid imagination. I spent most of my time being creative by drawing, writing stories, choreographing dances with my ballet friends, writing poetry and music and dreaming up imaginary friends and animals. I was a constant daydreamer in school and was always getting told off for staring out the window oblivious to what the teacher was talking about!

I also had a technical bent towards inventing robots, computer programs and flying machines (my INTJ friend and I spent many happy hours designing planes, spaceships and parachutes and then launching ourselves off the roof of the house!) I also used to spend hours with a tape recorder inventing stories then recording them with sound fx. I later became a sound engineer and got to do this for a living so that was a dream come true.

Would love to hear if any other INFJs had a technical bent as children. :)
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lol, That is very humorous, jumping off the house with your designs. I'm hoping they were one storied, and assuming they worked because you're here! lol.

I'm very technical now as an adult, but not very much as a child. I did some things like build models, take electronics apart to see how they worked, designed blueprints, etc. I would draw out contraptions that had a clear chain of cause and effect, but were incredibly impractical. Now, I can repair a variety of mechanical and electrical equipment around the house and at work.

I would also get myself in trouble in small ways by spacing out and not listening to what was going on around me. I would miss important things my parents and teachers were trying to tell me, but was too embarrassed to ask for them to repeat :rolleyes: Still a minor problem.
 
ThomasJ79 said:
lol, That is very humorous, jumping off the house with your designs. I'm hoping they were one storied, and assuming they worked because you're here! lol.

I'm very technical now as an adult, but not very much as a child. I did some things like build models, take electronics apart to see how they worked, designed blueprints, etc. I would draw out contraptions that had a clear chain of cause and effect, but were incredibly impractical. Now, I can repair a variety of mechanical and electrical equipment around the house and at work.

I would also get myself in trouble in small ways by spacing out and not listening to what was going on around me. I would miss important things my parents and teachers were trying to tell me, but was too embarrassed to ask for them to repeat :rolleyes: Still a minor problem.
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I STILL have trouble spacing out as an adult! Lol. I get up in the morning and make a plan for the day and then forget to follow it because my mind is somewhere else!

My friend and I got into a lot of trouble jumping off the roof (which, yes, was only one storey). The parents were NOT amused! We truly believed we would lift off. The best attempt was a spaceship we made. I think we even decked it out with supplies as we thought it would work!
 
I hummed out loud all kinds of music while laying in bed before sleep, rolling my head on the pillow sideways to the rhythm of the music. I also daydreamed a lot, drawing was also there, and I remember building plane models: drawing shapes on a sheet of paper, cutting them out, then folding them into 3D objects (fuselage, wings, stabilizers, landing gears, etc.), and gluing the edges so it stayed together. I built mostly WWI style biplanes with this method. I also read a lot.
 
Yes, my imagination was very strong and I really miss it because it was a large source of happiness. Does anyone have tips on how to re-gain and nurture that imagination as an adult?
 
Naejah said:
Yes, my imagination was very strong and I really miss it because it was a large source of happiness. Does anyone have tips on how to re-gain and nurture that imagination as an adult?
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It is hard to describe but it has more to do with a state of mind and how one makes use of time. Imagination and creativity are inextricably linked and need the right conditions to thrive. It really is up to you to decide how far to take it.
 
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