It’s not uncommon for children to have imaginary friends. You may even still recall the name of your own childhood made-up friend, or your child might be in that phase right now.
But if a grown adult admitted to having an imaginary friend, I imagine most people would think that person is off-kilter.
But every grown adult has an imaginary friend. In fact, we all have dozens of them throughout our lives. Your invisible friends are the caricatures you’ve created of the real people in your life.
I’m willing to bet you even have mental conversations with them on a fairly regular basis.
- “Well, if Bob’s going to fire me, I’m totally going to let him know how I really feel about this place.”
- “If Nancy’s thinking about leaving me, what if I remind her of how we used to be?”
- “If my teenage son doesn’t show up before curfew tonight, he’s getting the silent treatment.”
You may even play these fabricated conversations with non-existent people over and over in your head until you convince yourself of something that isn’t true, or worry yourself far too much over a future event that (likely) won’t happen the way you expect.
Imaginary friends are fine for kids for a time, but we all have to grow up eventually.
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