I’m beginning to think you’re a daydreamer.

You’re like air, always floating.

You get lost in your head, swirling around.

I’ve heard it all. I simultaneously love and hate this aspect of myself. While I can improve on certain qualities of my being (read: I can weigh myself down with a healthy dose of practicality), I know I will never, nor do I really want to, fundamentally change my daydreaming ways. It’s a part of me. When I get lost in my head, as long as I avoid the dark vortex of self-destruction, I usually re-emerge with an idea to create, a feeling to share or a concept to translate.

So this is a short ode to the daydreamers like me, as corny as that may sound, and a resolve for us to keep our feet on the ground (i.e. staying rooted in reality, to a practical and healthy degree) with our heads still in the clouds (i.e. holding on to that airy part of what makes us, us).

In the midst of writing this, I discovered this wonderful dance from ballet dancer, Sergei Polunin. Thanks social media! And as is always the case when I discover a writer/artist/human being that I admire, I start Googling the hell out of them. That led me to this video: The Fragile Balance from Jem Goulding. In the video, I found Sergei’s words powerful, no matter where your interest level for ballet and ballet dancers lie.

In case you don’t feel like watching the video, I’ve typed out some of his words below:

people are going to think what they want to think

I let them

you cant’ control perception

it’s a losing game so I don’t play

I let them lose

Lose themselves in their own fantasies of what they want me to be

a rebel

an angel

a romantic

a heart breaker

a child

a man

perhaps I’m all of these things

perhaps I’m none

but what I am is for me to find out

not to be dictated to me

It’s for me to know

I immediately connected this with my simple thoughts on being a so-called, “daydreamer.” Because, after all, it’s only someone’s perception. The point is that the label is trivial, it’s for me to either accept, deny or obliterate all together. And if I can accept a label given to me and even find it flattering, then why not just embrace it?

It’s for me (and the Monkees ↓) to know.