Combining Fantasy With Reality: How to Enchant Your Everyday

What is fantasy? This enchanting concept that encircles us like a pack of lions sniffing at a house cat? It’s everywhere we go; fantasy football, fantasy novels, our wildest dreams and risqué desires. But what actually is it?

Google tells me it’s:

“The faculty or activity of imagining impossible or improbable things.”

By definition, fantasy separates itself from reality with this partition of probability, and on one side is us, huddled together like chickens dreaming of wings that can carry us to the stars, in the area labelled “Real Life.” On the opposite, there’s everything else, all the impossible things, the alluring, the unknown, the wondrous, the awe-inspiring, the what if’s and the imagine that’s, and all the treasures of the universe guarded by iridescent scaled dragons whose wings can transport them beyond the stars and to different realms entirely. This side we call “Fantasy Land.”

We are all so desperate to scale the wall between and experience what’s over there. Like Disneyland grew from stellar dust and several super strong psychedelics; it’s not that the grass is greener over there, it’s that it’s a moonlight glade with fairy-doors poking through the wildflowers, signposts scattered along mossy paths leading us to everywhere we’ve ever dreamed of.

The biggest scam of sentience is our ability to dream up fantastical places, but never cross the boundary between slate grey pavements onto the yellow brick road. We can graze our imagination against the magical wards of fantasy realms, but we can’t feel them with our own fingertips.

Or can we?

Reality is real and fantasy is fantasy — seems pretty obvious right? But what if that’s wrong. What if we’ve simply been herded into one field as though there are no others nearby; the gates locked and bolted behind us?

Well, here I am, a sheep dog hired by the agents of the fantastical, bounding over the fence and helping you find your way out of the mundane and into the magic.

“Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli. Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab. Fantasy tastes of habaneros and honey, cinnamon and cloves, rare red meat and wines as sweet as summer. Reality is beans and tofu, and ashes at the end.” — George R.R. Martin.

I’m rewriting the term fantasise. Forget wet dreams about shadow-wielding fae warriors and a third tap that pours chocolate milk, now “fantasise” means;

To bring fantasy into your real life.

Here are 10 ways you can do that, each and every day, until you blur the lines between the real and unreal — and create a life you deem fantastic.

1. Create an alter ego

I read somewhere recently about the impact on your confidence and self-esteem that creating yourself into an alias has. An alter ego, a heightened version of you that bears all the characteristics you’d want your “ideal” self to exude. They’re still you, but you’re taking your Clark Kent glasses off and being the Super iteration of who you are.

Mine is called Emilia Silvers. She has a thick plait down to her waist with moonlight threaded into it. She’s confident. Spontaneous. She believes in herself. She also wields power drawn from the stars.

She does things that I do — writes books, explores the world, follows her curiosity — but she does them more actively and consistently than me. And that’s the point. She’s here to inspire me to be more like her. To write more often, to prioritise adventuring, to swap anxiety for curiosity and do what she does, what I want to do.

The point of your alter ego is a millionfold. In times of uncertainty, ask yourself “what would they do?” And do it. In times of boredom, think “how would they draw the fun out of the now?” And do it. In the moments when real life is feeling a little too real, hop out of your Birkenstocks and into your alter ego’s shoes.

So what if yours is a dragon rider who can see through walls? For a day, an afternoon, an hour, find a field and close your eyes and imagine your dragon plopping down beside you. Press your face up against an old farmhouse and picture what you might see on the other side. If you feel silly — good! You’re doing it right.

The more you do it, the more the silliness will fade and fantasy fun will shimmer in its wake.

2. Visualise as you walk

This one I’ve had to do a lot, lately. Having uprooted from the Brummie sticks to the Liverpudlian concrete, a walk through a city is not quite as serene as through a field. So I’ve had to bring the field to me.

Walking down past an industrial sized Costco and a cooling vent for the tunnel beneath the Mersey river, I imagine old taverns lining the road, some kind of dragon sleeping beneath the vent, it’s smoky breath the steam that cools it. Instead of petrol tanks and Uber taxis I picture horses pulling carts on dirt-path roads, with warriors and royals on their way to some noble event. Pigeons aren’t just gobbling up dried sick off the pavement, they’re delivering urgent mail that contains maps to a wild array of treasures.

Granted, I’ve learned the hard way that you have to stop visualising long enough to cross the road before a lorry-sized horse and cart runs you down — but otherwise, it’s quite the peaceful endeavour.

3. Try a fantasy name generator

If you’re struggling to get started with this fantasy-hoist into your reality, let your imagination, or at least the internet, help you out.

Me and my soulmate Ben play a lot of Magic: The Gathering. It’s a fantasy tabletop card game, with each card portraying a different creature, enchantment, land, artefact, you name it — it’ll probably have some derivation of what you’re thinking of. And each card has it’s own title. Things like:

Ravenous Rotbelly. Chandra’s Embercat. Moonbow Illusionist. Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker. Colossification.

They’re the epitome of fantasy names. Now— choose yours. Or, again, ask the internet to pick one for you. There are plenty of fantasy name generators out there. This is just one of them.

This is also a really fun, light-hearted thing to do when you’re, well, anywhere. The elderly couple vigorously tucking into a tuna sandwich opposite you on the train? Scentweavers, Nautilius and Oceana (okay, that’s a pretty sketchy example. That was straight from the top of the dome). My point is, do it about anything or anyone you encounter. They don’t have to be that extravagant. Think; Sickeater Pigeonfolk (shoutout to the vomit loving bird I mentioned above). Find something in the real world, and give it a name that’s out of this world. Yourself included.

4. Let go of what you think you know

Let go of what you believe the real world is meant to be. Of what it parades around as. Of it’s cheap suit and empty briefcase and miserable scowl. Because beneath and beyond all that, reality is made of dragon scales, moon rocks and fairy dust, all stacked inside a trench coat.

Underneath all that we think we know — is so much we don’t. Just because something isn’t real, doesn’t mean it won’t one day be. AI was a mere fantastical, faraway thought, and now it’s setting my timer for my boiled eggs. Unicorns might be real — dinosaurs were. Vampire squids are. Your mom is (sorry).

So shed the dry skin of reality and lube up on fantasy, and try a couple of these out for size:

• Sack off the 9 to 5 (where possible): just because they’re the “normal” working hours, doesn’t mean they’re the right ones. We’re not aiming for normal anyway. Vampires work at night. Werewolves work only during a full moon. Find the rhythm that works best for you and your true fantastical self.
• Stop dressing how you think you SHOULD dress: if you love 60s fashion, wear it. If you want to wear converse to a wedding, wear them. If you think pyjamas shouldn’t be reserved for only your sleep demons, flaunt them during your big shop in Tesco. Nobody writes the rules to your own reality, but you.
• Let yourself believe: maybe you’re usually a sceptic. Maybe you’re not entirely sure about anything. In any case, if there’s something you want to believe in, believe it. Try witchcraft. Read the bible. Go on a hunt with your father for the Lochness Monster. Not seeing something doesn’t make it not real. It just means that the dull grey lens of reality might need to be swapped for your rose-tinted one for a while.

5. Visit fantasy places

To help you with the latter point of what I said above, and to also sprinkle a little more fantasy dust into your out-and-abouts, make your next day trip one doused in mystery and magic. Research local spots that are soaked in rich history and myth and culture. Visit places that are so serene and picturesque, they could be a postcard in a faery gift shop. Think:

• Haunted houses
• Zombie runs
• Castles and ruins
• Historical sites
• Locations mentioned in myths, legends and folklore,
• A wooded area overgrowing with wildflowers
• A frost-coated cabin in a snowy city

Three places that me and Ben have visited over the past couple years are particularly steeped in enchantment and magic. We went to Finland and stayed in a Kelo-log cabin that felt as though it was plucked from a Scandinavian fairytale. We also camped up a mountain beside a lake in France, in which surrounding mountains made it look as though a dragon lay dormant beneath them. And then there was the Landmark Trust blockhouse in Wales, a fort completed in 1874 that was our three-night stay in the deep, deep past. Each one of these places whisked us away from reality to somewhere full of adventure.

6. Research myths and occult legends

I’ll be honest, it was Alaric from Vampire Diaries that first made me Google Occult Studies. I have a degree in Physics and Astrophysics, and one in Publishing, and now that I’ve learned about the moon and books — I want to be qualified in all things supernatural. Because throughout time and across space (well, Earth at least), creatures and beasts like vampire, dragons, sprites, merfolk, they were the source of plenty of conversation. To this day, many suspect beings such as these are real. And maybe they are.

But even if they’re not, reading up on myths and legends and folklore is a great way to imagine a world in which supernatural and otherworldly entities might encroach upon real life. Learn about their origins, their histories, their strengths and weaknesses, and on your next walk, picture how you might defend yourself should one spring out of the bushes.

7. Carry a tiny journal wherever you go

I do. This mini notepad is the one I’m currently using. It flips back like an old reporter-style notepad, a perfect means of documenting on the go.

But how does this help with fantasising life? Think of it like exactly that, a journalists curation of facts. A place to discover things, to note down anything untoward, peculiar, strange. Or a place to doodle sick-eating pigeons.

Maybe you’re an undercover fantasy creature on our mortal-plane, secretly logging the ways of the human world. Or perhaps you’re a David Attenborough wannabe — jotting down life in its many forms.

Either way, it’s less about what you’re recording — you might even see real-life things and write them down in a way that makes them more surreal — and more about the act of doing. The art of observation. The more you notice in the world around you, the more likely you are to spot other worlds peeking through.

8. Treat your day like a side quest

This is pretty similar to something I used to do a lot: chapter titling my day.

The premise remains the same; by making each new day a new side quest, you’re making the day an active adventure, with a goal and a direction, a purpose and a plot. It doesn’t need to be anything extravagant, just pick the main thing, the overarching task on your to-do list, the birthday you’re attending, the day at work, whatever it is, and give it a title. Make it a side quest. Put it this way:

Say it’s a “clean the house from top to bottom” kind of day. Create a goal, create an easy-to-defeat enemy. Create fake aids, like enchantments and elixirs that can help boost you towards your goal. Make it fantasy. Then embody the main character that you are, and get on with it. It could look something like this:

• Goal: to remove the grimes of reality from your home that are preventing the magical wilderness from flourishing inside
• Your easy-to-defeat enemy: the dirt, the mess, the tangled hairs in the carpet
• Enchantments and elixirs: use a Redbull like a energy potion and the Febreze like a deadly poison that eliminates all odours (not sponsored).

Pretend your home is a hotspot for mystical horticulture, with magic mushrooms (plot twist: they exist in reality too) and ancient oaks and vegetation made with shapeshifting properties. But the dirt is dampening their abilities, and without your indoor outdoors, your livelihood is jeopardised. So you must — YOU MUST — clean.

And when it’s done; side quest achieved.

9. Ingest fantasy in all its forms

And I don’t just mean watch it, read it, play it, imagine it. I mean literally. Make fantasy foods. Cottagecore soups. Shimmering brews. Natural potions. Concoctions made of exotic, pretty, Earth-made ingredients. Drink cloudberry tea and Glögi berry juice (I literally had both of these in Finland). Try lavender butter, banana breads, jams and stews made from your own garden fruits and herbs. Drink from homemade ceramic mugs and goblets, eat from wooden plates laid out on crocheted picnic blankets beside a lake. Make any seemingly “mundane” breath taste like magic.

10. Dress fantastically

And much like the point above, don’t let fantasy be a mere thing you “do,” but a thing you are. A thing you eat, a thing you listen to, smell, wear. Sheath yourself in fantasy, stitch it into your being, embody it. With long plaits threaded with silvery braids and flowers. Cloaks and corsets and chemises. Strap a dagger to your thigh. Wear a friggin’ crown!

If you want fantasy to find you, become a beacon for it. Wear your heart on your flared and flouncy sleeve, fit for an elven royal. Love it confidently, bravely, because there is nothing wrong with becoming who you truly and fantastically are.

Fantasy is as real as reality

One of my favourite quotes comes from, as you can imagine, fantasy fiction. Said by Dumbledore to HP in a moment of uncertainty;

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”

Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry’s ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

They tell you that reality is simply a projection of your own mind. Who we are, the way we think, what we believe, it unfolds before us and around us in real time. If you think fantasy is real, if you really and truly believe it, even if it only appears in bursts of imagination and wonderment — it is as real as anything else. Just because it’s happening inside your mind, doesn’t make it any less important. Any less able to exist in the tangible world alongside you.

This is how you lure fantasy into fruition — by becoming it. By believing it. By creating it. Shapeshift your reality into something they’d make entire trilogies about.

After all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being away with the fairies.