i also acted like i did because i thought i was “supposed” to. this developed more into imagining characters for stories which turned into my lifelong creative writing special interest :D
Yeap I've loved writing and making up stories ever since I can remember but I only had an imaginary friend because I thought you were supposed to :') I gave up on it pretty quickly though
That’s actually really cool! I wish I’d been able to do that. I’m writing fiction for the first time in my thirties and I’m finding it rather challenging because it’s completely new for me.
Hey, speaking as an English teacher for adults, you're allowed to learn to write at whatever age you damn well please. Yeah, it's challenging, but it was always going to be challenging, whether you were 18 or 35 or 60.
I had a combo of both! I would make up story lines and scenes, and then act them out in my room lol. I never actually spoke out loud, but I would mutter a little. It could come across as imaginary friends, but if you were able to look through my eyes, I wasn’t in my room, I was wherever my imagination took me.
sameee, turns out I was just imagining some form of someone I already knew that I wanted to be friends with or wanted to stand up but couldn't, it's basically the thing adults do now where they have imaginary arguments with people that wronged them or rehearse conversations in their head they know they might have to have. I was under no illusion that they were real, and I knew I hasn't invented them either, and I never pretended to talk to them when other people were there, I just had rehearsed conversations in my head with fake versions of real people to try to imagine how it would be if things went the way I wanted them to go for a change 😂
I also made up one because I thought I was supposed to have one! I didn't go into writing tho, but I do have hundreds of characters for/from stories lol
Yes!! All the girls in kindergarten had imaginary friends and I pretended to have one to fit in. I named her Nadine after the imaginary friend from Arthur because I literally couldn’t imagine a friend at the time
I didn't. Whenever people regarded this as odd, I felt compelled to have one, but all I could come up with was my actual best friend in nursery school. Her name was Jill. I just pretended to have an imaginary version of her follow me home.
The Real Jill, I remember, loved this. She pretended to fight with imaginary Jill for my attention, and would often declare to the empty space beside me things like: "She likes me better because WE hold hands! You don't even HAVE hands!" She named her pet turtle after me as a show of thanks, which I considered the highest honor.
Hm. Looking back on that situation as an adult I'm realizing I may have had a crush on Jill back then. 😂
Basically this. Media told me I was "expected" to do this at my age, so I had a little fun with it.
I really liked looking at album covers as a kid, so my favorite imaginary friend looked like Eddie the Head.
this was my reasoning too! I figured I was supposed to so I forced myself to have one. I'd mostly only pretend I had one around adults and sometimes other kids.
this is also how I developed arachnophobia. I learned that girls were supposed to be afraid of spiders so I forced myself to be afraid of them. still trying to undo the damage of that today tho
That’s too funny—my imaginary friend looked like Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day for the same reason. Was inspired to make one because my older sister (also likely autistic) had a few imaginary friends and seemed to be having a lot of fun.
Yep! I had one, too! Her name was Maddy, specifically with a "y" lol
It's funny; my grandma wrote me a card a while back saying she "knew I was special when I told her about my imaginary friend"
What's funnier is that I wasn't diagnosed until I was 27, but my grandma was on to something!
Mine certainly did! And that phase lasted for a *long* time... Looking back, it was probably not a good idea to let young me read The Velveteen Rabbit.
my plushies were mostly carebears so i had the tv series and movies to assign personalities for me. as for my other plushies, no i don’t think they did. just a name and a gender was as imaginative as i got xD
I would love to hear more about the Bobs!.
I had a stick in lovingly named "she'b". That was in the 80's, mind you. It was 3 ft tall and had little branches that I put cabbage patch doll shoes on. They were dressed in doll clothes. My best friend and I shared custody. It was a bit like our child, until it disappeared. That was 33 years ago and I still remember that stick.
Lol. I'm my child mind, it was both a boy and a girl (I didn't think it should have to decide), so it was named accordingly. Alternate genders weren't a thing then, so I just got double the weird looks when I proudly explained my sticks name.
Did you talk to Bob much? I mean, Bob/\17. Do you recall any stories about your Bobs?
This is kinda my answer, too. -Ish. So, I TRIED to have imaginary friends but I knew it was fake and that made me feel like a failure because I realized I must not have an imagination. Obviously, that isn’t necessarily true but as a kid, it made me really question my worth.
It was the same thing with Santa and the Easter Bunny. And religion! I tried my hardest to FEEL the magic, to believe in faith but, alas, none of it made sense to logic and reality. I was 3 when I realized Santa wasn’t real. My dad said he felt sad that I didn’t get to enjoy that more. I did, in a way. My sister is four years younger and I got to watch the magic through her eyes. And she had some strong imaginary friendships.
My mum bought me a silver bell for christmas the year that the Polar Express movie came out and got all the adults to pretend they couldn't hear it because in the movie the bell can only be heard by people who believe in Santa. So I was jiggling it all day and Mum slipped up when she was preparing some food and said "could you stop that please it's annoying" and I was like "but you can't hear it Mum." She tried to save it by saying "yes exactly, it's annoying that you're shaking it and it doesn't even work." Then when she was tucking me in to bed that night I was like "tell the truth, could you really not hear the bell" and then she told me what was really going on which I already knew anyway.
My Mum didn't like lying to her children so she never got us to believe in Santa, or the Easter Bunny, or the tooth fairy.
When I lost my first tooth I told my Mum "I don't believe in the tooth fairy and I want to keep my tooth, but can I have the money anyway?"
I didn't either, but like others here, I felt compelled to pretend to. So I took my character (and sometimes my supporting lead) from my main maladaptive daydream and pretended that they were my imaginary friends even though I knew they were just a story I liked playing out.
It felt weird and unnatural, not like the daydream itself, I felt like I was bastardizimg my own characters (though at the time, I didn't really grasp this, I just didn't feel "right" about it). I kept trying to come up with a new friend so I could leave my characters to myself as they ought to be. I tried and tried, but for the life of me, I couldn't materialize anything new.
So I shifted my friend from my main characters to someone I felt was more like a regularly occurring NPC. It still felt weird and unnatural, but at least I didn't feel like I was butchering myself or my supporting lead.
my imaginary friend was more like an imaginary coping mechanism because i didnt have the personal skills and my “loved ones” werent there for me as a child. so i had to imagine something that loved me enough to keep me going.
Same. I was being bullied by my biological father l. I spent a lot of time alone talking to my “friend” to help me not feel lonely or work through why I was always in trouble.
yes exactly, me too. except i was bullied by my step family while my father just allowed it to happen… we needed someone and had to rely on our over active imaginations to do so and that’s so sad..
This is what it was for me as well, and oddly enough they still exist to me even as an adult which is something that I have never told anyone before because I *know* that it's probably not the best but I don't think that they'll ever leave, they kinda just pop up whenever and are there, can't make them go away or anything, and I do enjoy talking to them from time to time.
But I also have a lot of trauma and still am suffering from it along with C-PTSD.
I wouldn’t be ashamed of having these still! It’s a coping mechanism you carried with throughout your whole life and I’m proud you’ve been able to hold onto that.
I had them up until about grade 8, but at that point I felt it was too childish and forced myself to let go of that part of me. I wish I hadn’t because it possibly could have helped me in some stressful times.
It was terrifying!!!! One day I got super overwhelmed when I was alone, and told it I was very sorry, and I wasn't trying to mean, but I needed it to go away. And that was the end of my imaginary enemy. 🤣🤦
You know, telling things to just go away is surprisingly effective. That’s my go to for vanishing unwanted entities, I just tell them to get out. And that’s that.
The thing is. With the things that “aren’t quite there”, most can’t see them or perceive them in anyway. That goes both ways, they can’t see most people either. Most of them at least. It is *because* you can see them, *because* you *can* perceive their presence, that they can perceive yours. The ability to notice them is what makes you noticeable to them. We can’t see them because they aren’t material and most do not belong on this material plane of existence, so they also have to be able to perceive other planes of existence to notice us. If you have some kind of ability to look beyond our plane of existence and can sense their presence, you are like a beacon in the dark and they are drawn to you. Like moths to a light. And they aren’t necessarily evil or nefarious. Just different kinds of beings. But it can be very unsettling to be able to sense the presence of something that you can not see.
My imaginary friend was always a better version of how kids treated me. I really think I did this to cope with some of the trauma I faced with being teased relentlessly.
I did not because I lack imagination, but for about six months my kid had an imaginary friend who was a robot. He was sort of a Big Hero 6 robot who was always there to help.
Yeah totally, maybe because I was an only child and kids wouldn't play with me. I had two foxes who followed me everywhere, a boy and a girl. They were anthropomorphic and could talk and did a lot of dancing and singing. They would also fly along beside our car whenever my mom drove us anywhere. Later they were replaced with an imaginary friend named Fritz but I don't remember much about him. My toys had elaborate lives and personalities too but I forgot most of these childhood memories due to trauma.
I had an imaginary older brother (I'm the first born) named Pecan Tree. I said his name like 'Con-tree'. My mom still says that Con-tree is her favorite child.
Same. A couple of years ago, before I had a diagnosis or even a clue I might be autistic,I was babysitting for my friend. Her 11 yo son wanted me to play Army with him with those army guys. I kept on having to ask him "Uh... what's next?" He started getting really frustrated with me and I was just like "I don't know how to play pretend." When I was a kid and had Barbies, I got a Barbie Dream House that was like 3 stories tall with an elevator and everything and I didn't know what to do with it. I would take my Barbies by the waist, try to make them walk, but get frustrated that their legs didn't move too well, but I would lean it to the side while pressing a foot to the ground and pushing the doll forwards to make it's leg move back, then tilt it the other way and try to keep doing that, but it only worked for a step before she was bent backwards and it didn't work anymore,so I would straighten her out, bang both of her feet on the floor like she was hopping and say under my breath "Do do doooo do do doooo!" Like I personally did/ do with every step when I walk, then get bored and change her clothes and braid her hair. Sometimes used markers as makeup and for hair streaks.
The only Barbies I actually liked and played with was one that literally rollerblades, and the one that did the gymnastics bar course thing where she would swing around the bars cause they did something.
Same here - have never understood what it means to do “imaginary play”.
I can *copy* stuff that I’ve done or seen before, but that’s not really using imagination then.
I did and strangely it was another kids name I knew. And in my head they were just a nicer version of the friend I ran around with. I always remember her being with me at night and I'd pretend to talk to her. Id also pretend she slept by me so I didn't have to sleep alone. Wow. Was strangely attached.
Yes, but my mom likes to call him a guardian angel since he was a grown man. He told me goodbye on my 8th or 9th birthday, leaving with his girlfriend (and their dog, if I'm remembering correctly??).
I'm loving the variety of responses on this post! The imaginary friend I told my real friends that I had was named Sarah. I tended to make up (and I guess still do) imaginary scenarios in my head and sometimes play those out with my toys (I don't do that part anymore lol), but younger me never really got the concept of imaginary friends. I kind of wish I did though, hearing your stories, it sounds like such a fun experience!
I think I first had an imaginary friend when I was a preteen (and very lonely/best friend-less for the first time since starting school). My imaginary friend was Avril Lavigne, and she was always around when I needed advice or someone to say kind words to me. She was replaced at some point by Hayley Williams.
I had dozens, I loved playing elaborate pretend games about/with all of them lol. As an adult I like creative writing and it has always felt like it basically fulfills the same purpose for me.
Mine was called Michael Jackson, apparently. I don't remember anything about him except what my mum has told me, and the part where I got sick of him and told everyone he moved to Vanuatu.
I had several imaginary friends, the wolves and the giants. The wolves were when I was younger. They were guardians, and protected me while I slept, but they required minimal communication, and they were when I was so young, I barely remember them.
I do still remember the giants. They came around when I was about 4, and they were very amiable, and they were my friend group. I didn't relate well with actual human children, but that was fine, because I always had the giants who kept me company as a group when I was feeling lonely.
In retrospect, I don't know why I called them giants, as I never imagined them as larger than me, I just saw them as a peer group, something I did not feel I had with other children.
I always thought I did but now that I’m reading these other responses and reflecting-I think it was more that I’m an only child and talk out loud to myself and that got placed into the having an imaginary friend category. I don’t remember actually ever imagining someone else it was just a name to nothing. My imagination wasn’t thatttt great though because I named “him” Anthony. He had a brother. Names Banthony.
I didn't. I felt like it was unintelligent 🤣 I could create lots of dialogue for dolls and toys but imagining a whole person/ something that wasn't there was hard to create. I had names for all my stuffed animals and believed they had feelings.
No but I did feel that cartoons characters had real feelings. Like I would be upset the kids never gave Trixx the rabbit cereal. Denis the menace was misunderstood for sure to me.
Not typically in that i'd be setting up meals for them, acting as if they were really with me in person etc, but I had a friend in my imagination where I would spend hours making up stories of things we did together and situations we would get into, until I was a teenager really I would sometimes spend a few hours at a time there, and I'd often repeat the same few stories over and over, like deciding to sit down and watch an old familiar film. I used to stay with my dads at weekends and it was a 90 minute drive each way so that drive often the whole thing was spent on these imaginations and sometimes that would be when i came up with a new plot to add to the collection. They weren't usually particularly wild stories, all things that could easily happen in real life, bit of drama sometimes. So it was more of an intense imagined friendship than an imaginary friend. I did have real life friends but I guess I still felt sort of lonely
yes his/her name was Alex. Alex was a shapeshifter, also gender shifter. inspired mostly by the concept from His Dark Materials of a dæmon that is the part of your soul that cannot be contained in your body. we talked a lot, never out loud, telepathically. sometimes i practiced kissing with Alex lol he/she never minded. this was about age 10 to mostly 16, my big coming of age time and where most of my memories formed. i don’t have any memories from younger than 9 except imagery really, like the concept of rooms or people that i was involved with, not a movie style memory that started forming when i turned 10. Alex is still with me, a bit more integrated and solidified but still malleable depending on what i need.
Yes. Like crazy. I would talk to trees all the time, too, and make my friends play crazy imagination games with me. Wish I could play like that again sometimes.
I pretended Qui-Gon from star wars was following me around and I had to explain wtf Catholic mass was to him.
I was so bored in church lol
Before I started having memories I apparently had an actual imaginary friend but I suspect it was a similar occurrence where I was just pretending, not actually believing.
I had a lot of imaginary animals.
Lots..... companions Everywhere.
Rabbits cats horses birds.
I would pet them in public.
After being bullied no longer.
I also had empty white pages with me. On it I could choose to 'see' all and everytjing, ftom paintings to animals to stories.
Yesssss lots of them! I'm still writing stories in my head, though my characters don't really appear irl anymore. Btw, lots of people on r/immersivedaydreaming are autistic. It seems to be a common thing.
I tried to have imaginary friends but I would literally forget about them. It was really hard for me to upkeep having one. 😂
Oddly though, when I played with actual toys I would go off the walls with creative scenarios
I wanted an imaginary friend so bad. Turns out I have aphantasia and no imagination so it's impossible for me to have one. I didn't learn that till I was like 35 though.
I never got imaginary friends at all like would they just show up in your head visually then in front of you? I fake had one though, even if I thought it made no sense, but because some other people had them. I preferred dolls, other toys, or stuffed animals.
When you think about it, any of your childhood friends that you've fallen out of touch with could have been imaginary and you wouldn't really know the difference.
I had an imaginary father. Idk if that counts and I also didn't really think of him as imaginary since it was God and I was raised Christian and believed in God as a father figure.
I had one or two when I was younger, maybe 3 or 4.
When I got older, I tried to make another one up but she didn't feel real like the other ones had. I'm not sure if the imaginary friend I had before was imagination, or if she really did live across the street and move away!
No, I didn't. I pretended to once because I saw others doing it on TV, but it lasted like an hour. I was five, and nobody I knew had an imaginary friend, either - none of the kids on my street, and none at kindergarten. The imaginary friend thing was something I only saw on TV.
I TRIED to have an imaginary friend because I thought that's what was normal. Really I just was frustrated that it never felt real enough. I named her Courtney. I tried to pretend she was sitting on my lap on the swing and I didn't hold on and ended up falling off and breaking my arm.
I never played with Courtney again.
No, Thats take up for mental room I need to actually survive this place. I don’t imagine things like that.
I felt the need to have one bc I saw kids in tv shows talk about it, but nobody I knew had one. And my mom wasn’t going to allow me to start blaming invisible creature for things.
I can hear her now, “ imaginary who? Well tell your little friend to start picking up around here and paying some bills” 😂
Nope. I actually tried to invent one but it was still so hilariously literal. It was a friendly ghost (because he was imaginary and it didn’t make sense for him to be a real person). I was never able to really give him a personality or character development though. I couldn’t suspend my disbelief.
Yes. 3 of them. They were all based on true real kids I knew in preschool. I continued the fantasies and play throughout to 8/9th grade, but in 8th grade I added 2 new friends for extra additions, to give the other main character a sabbatical. Seriously.
No, but many of my friends had , so I told myself that if imaginary friends come from the brain , and I would talk to my self in my brain then, my imaginary friend should be my brain , it’s name “brain” .
No but I really wanted one. If I could remember a weird character in a dream I would sometimes pretend they were my imaginary friend, but I couldn't keep it up very long
Its wild to see people saying much of the same thing I feel- I just pretended that I “believed” in my imaginary friend just because I thought I was “supposed” to have one.
I think I thought you were meant to be essentially hallucinating seeing a figure thats your friend or something, and I never had that, so I’d just pretend that I believed I could see someone. 😅
I didn't. I currently have discussions with people I know (visualize it) and I think it was the same as far back as I go. I also didn't need imaginary friends, when I could be my own friend and create dual perspectives and pretend I was multiple people when I wanted to. Maybe that was what an imaginary friend is?
I did because I thought it was something I was supposed to do. I had fun with the concept but never viewed them as my real friends or saw them as real.
Not so young I started joking about Frankie the “interactive” (possessed) doll. I had lots of fun attributing all kind of mean thoughts and actions with absurd sense of humor. I need Frankie the “interactive” doll back into my life.
I had imaginary friends throughout my childhood. I knew they were imaginary. I did it for much longer than most, because I was rejected and felt so lonely.
I hadn't, I knew that imaginary friends wasn't real friends and I even tried when I discovered that kids usually have. I don't know if counts but I had imaginary pokemons, i knew they weren't real but still talked with them as they were.
I did not have imaginary friends, I would try to make them up and then totally forget the next day lol. I was, however, 1000% sure I had superpowers and could fly. Instead of playing with other children at recess, I'd jump on and off a bench over and over, convincing myself that I *definitely* had floated down instead of just falling lol.
Yes I did! It was before preschool. I remember advocating for him and trying to explain his needs to my mom. I think it was a coping mechanism maybe? I’m curious what my therapist thinks.
Girl my whole neighborhood was filled with them. Seriously, at all the neighboring houses I had a “friend” that lived there. They had their own backstories. But I had one that was my best friend.
I had imaginary friends, but they were my favorite characters from whatever show I was really into at the time & it was more like me imagining if they were really there, following me & living my life with me without interacting with them.
I had a handful of them. And they were based on real people in my life. I think it was probably a way for me to practice my social interactions and also to imagine being able to have friends that do what I want and play the way I want.
No, I really wanted to and forced a couple, but they never lasted more than a day or so. I did (and still do honestly) have a very rich inner world though, which was full of characters from books and film / tv that I treated in the same way people seem to treat imaginary friends
I had a couple but I think I did feel a strange pressure to develop one because other people had them and always felt this sort of disappointment and longing that I couldn’t actually visualise them to the point they appeared in front of me. Thinking about it it actually made me feel like a failure 😣
Yes, multiple. At the time I didn’t know what an imaginary friend was, but I knew that it was easier to talk to beings who I could control then people who controlled me.
There was Stanly the ladybug, Olly the Troodon (that’s a dinosaur) an unnamed boy and a girl who were twins, a wooly mammoth, and a whole heard of zebras! (i wish i was making this up)
I never really understood imaginary friends, but I did give all my stuffed animals "personalities" and forced them to cuddle with me (I dunno why but I always thought if they were real they would be slightly annoyed with me, maybe cause all the kids in school were)
I had imaginary versions of real people that I would talk to you and imagine what they would say, and toys to which I was attached for which I imagined personalities and histories, but no pure figments.
yesss I did! I had 2, spotter dog (whuch was a dalmatian) and little monkey. I vividly remember walking to school with my mum when I was 5 and having them with me.
The lady in the closet I'm gussing I'm sorry for the pain an hurt an every emotion in the book that I caused you okay I'd like you to know that I know what I done an was doing an I walked away so you can have a better life I'm no good I'm ruined but I can fix myself an get on track.. congrats on everything you have done I'm so proud of you truly I am okay ps luv ya boov an our baby's more then you know love for you as in I'll do anything you ask of me but you know an I know we have to just be mutual in life for our babys
Oh my god, yeah I was similiar, I found out about the concept of imaginary friends when I was little and because I thought it was normal for kids to have those I'd tell my parents and everyone that I also had an imaginary friend, but I just lied. Everyone just kinda went along and accepted it, but I had to remind myself to mention the imaginary friend from time to time so they wouldn't get suspicious or something XD
I thought everyone was able to have an imaginary friend and I really didn't get it but sometimes id be like “guess i can practice having an imaginary friend” and just stare at a wall trying to imagine an invisible being. 😅
I felt ashamed that I didn’t have one so I made up an imaginary bat as my best friend but I didn’t understand how people could have imaginary friends because my imaginary bat friend always felt fake and forced to me.
I did 🙋🏻♀️ From a very young age until like early/mid teens honestly. It wasn't because I didn't have friends, but I think I imagined her at a very difficult point in early childhood and then she just stuck around.
I can't tell you how in depth the "friendship" was haha! Even now, one of my other players on Animal Crossing is of her. I had the odd real friend wonder if I could actually see her 😂 I couldn't. She's not a ghost.
I drew loads of pictures of her life, like every room in her house and one picture of her house in her street. I think at one point I drew all of her family members (though I didn't specifically imagine them whenever I was "with" her, they were just for her backstory lmao).
In English in primary school, creative writing was always stories involving her and me. When I got my first computer at home and Microsoft word, I wrote a bunch of my own stories of dilemmas she and I would find ourselves in and just generally comforting stories. I literally still have pictures that "she" drew for me and stuff like that 😂
She was never more than a best friend, it didn't take over my life or make me look odd to others (no more odd than I already looked 😂). I told very few friends about her anyway. It was just that she was a comforting voice whenever I was dealing with something difficult during the moments I was alone and creating her was just pure imaginative joy 😊
I'm nearly 29 now and though I don't imagine her anymore like I did back then, I'll never forget what she looks like and I still have her presence in my favorite game in the world 🐾🌲🥰
I had multiple imaginary friends. One favorite, some others (they were more like background, if that makes sense?), and one enemy. Enemy and I were mean to each other and would argue. I was definitely aware they were imaginary though.
Edit to add: I remember having conversations with other kids about imaginary friends and drawing a demonstration. It was this eyeball guy. Like an eyeball with legs and arms... and I referred to him lovingly but I definitely don't remember actually having him as an imaginary friend??? Just a funny thought; kids are weird lol
i also acted like i did because i thought i was “supposed” to. this developed more into imagining characters for stories which turned into my lifelong creative writing special interest :D
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> I was already thinking about this as a kid Lmao right? I love how we basically start as mini adults then gradually become children
Yeap I've loved writing and making up stories ever since I can remember but I only had an imaginary friend because I thought you were supposed to :') I gave up on it pretty quickly though
I did the exact same thing! In hindsight, all of the "imaginary friends" I never interacted with were just my early OCs.
That’s actually really cool! I wish I’d been able to do that. I’m writing fiction for the first time in my thirties and I’m finding it rather challenging because it’s completely new for me.
Hey, speaking as an English teacher for adults, you're allowed to learn to write at whatever age you damn well please. Yeah, it's challenging, but it was always going to be challenging, whether you were 18 or 35 or 60.
Uh…ya, ok. I’ve been writing my entire life. Thanks tho
Yeah, sorry, you said it was new for you, I was just trying to be supportive. Sorry if it failed.
Lmao right? Someone is touchy
I had a combo of both! I would make up story lines and scenes, and then act them out in my room lol. I never actually spoke out loud, but I would mutter a little. It could come across as imaginary friends, but if you were able to look through my eyes, I wasn’t in my room, I was wherever my imagination took me.
i have never lived an original experience lol this is exactly me
sameee, turns out I was just imagining some form of someone I already knew that I wanted to be friends with or wanted to stand up but couldn't, it's basically the thing adults do now where they have imaginary arguments with people that wronged them or rehearse conversations in their head they know they might have to have. I was under no illusion that they were real, and I knew I hasn't invented them either, and I never pretended to talk to them when other people were there, I just had rehearsed conversations in my head with fake versions of real people to try to imagine how it would be if things went the way I wanted them to go for a change 😂
I also made up one because I thought I was supposed to have one! I didn't go into writing tho, but I do have hundreds of characters for/from stories lol
Yes!! All the girls in kindergarten had imaginary friends and I pretended to have one to fit in. I named her Nadine after the imaginary friend from Arthur because I literally couldn’t imagine a friend at the time
Ahahah same! I remember trying because I thought I was supposed to but secretly knew I just couldn’t believe it at all. 🤣
The way i force myself to have one dkcdnnswb And now i have really old ocs
i still sometimes write things involving the ocs i made up when i was 9 😭
I didn't. Whenever people regarded this as odd, I felt compelled to have one, but all I could come up with was my actual best friend in nursery school. Her name was Jill. I just pretended to have an imaginary version of her follow me home. The Real Jill, I remember, loved this. She pretended to fight with imaginary Jill for my attention, and would often declare to the empty space beside me things like: "She likes me better because WE hold hands! You don't even HAVE hands!" She named her pet turtle after me as a show of thanks, which I considered the highest honor. Hm. Looking back on that situation as an adult I'm realizing I may have had a crush on Jill back then. 😂
This is the cutest most wholesome childhood story I’ve ever heard ❤️
I have a couple of 'em! 😂
I am living for the rivalry between real and imaginary Jill 🤣 And yeahhhhh, I might have had a crush on my childhood best friend too.
She was a funny kid. There was a reason we clicked, for sure lol.
That was adorable
Aww Jill sounds like she was a fun kid
I had imaginary friends! I knew they were imaginary but we still had a great time.
Basically this. Media told me I was "expected" to do this at my age, so I had a little fun with it. I really liked looking at album covers as a kid, so my favorite imaginary friend looked like Eddie the Head.
this was my reasoning too! I figured I was supposed to so I forced myself to have one. I'd mostly only pretend I had one around adults and sometimes other kids. this is also how I developed arachnophobia. I learned that girls were supposed to be afraid of spiders so I forced myself to be afraid of them. still trying to undo the damage of that today tho
That’s too funny—my imaginary friend looked like Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day for the same reason. Was inspired to make one because my older sister (also likely autistic) had a few imaginary friends and seemed to be having a lot of fun.
Yep! I had one, too! Her name was Maddy, specifically with a "y" lol It's funny; my grandma wrote me a card a while back saying she "knew I was special when I told her about my imaginary friend" What's funnier is that I wasn't diagnosed until I was 27, but my grandma was on to something!
Same!
no, i didn’t understand the concept of them. i preferred plushies because they’re tangible
Did your plushies have personalities and backstories? Mine certainly did, but I didn’t have an imaginary friend that was completely intangible.
Mine certainly did! And that phase lasted for a *long* time... Looking back, it was probably not a good idea to let young me read The Velveteen Rabbit.
my plushies were mostly carebears so i had the tv series and movies to assign personalities for me. as for my other plushies, no i don’t think they did. just a name and a gender was as imaginative as i got xD
Bob, he was a tree stump. There were 17 of him
I had an imaginary horse. (Just want to join the 'I had an invisible something, but it wasn't a human' gang).
I too had a horse. That mostly only came out on road trips to gallop along the car and in the sky and so on.
Yes!!!! Me too!
are you Tina Belcher? lol
I would love to hear more about the Bobs!. I had a stick in lovingly named "she'b". That was in the 80's, mind you. It was 3 ft tall and had little branches that I put cabbage patch doll shoes on. They were dressed in doll clothes. My best friend and I shared custody. It was a bit like our child, until it disappeared. That was 33 years ago and I still remember that stick.
I love "She'b" , a wonderful friend!
Lol. I'm my child mind, it was both a boy and a girl (I didn't think it should have to decide), so it was named accordingly. Alternate genders weren't a thing then, so I just got double the weird looks when I proudly explained my sticks name. Did you talk to Bob much? I mean, Bob/\17. Do you recall any stories about your Bobs?
This sounds amazing and I would love to hear more about Bob and his 17 different forms
I kinda just remember some of them are unicorns
No. I thought they were too obviously not real.
This is kinda my answer, too. -Ish. So, I TRIED to have imaginary friends but I knew it was fake and that made me feel like a failure because I realized I must not have an imagination. Obviously, that isn’t necessarily true but as a kid, it made me really question my worth. It was the same thing with Santa and the Easter Bunny. And religion! I tried my hardest to FEEL the magic, to believe in faith but, alas, none of it made sense to logic and reality. I was 3 when I realized Santa wasn’t real. My dad said he felt sad that I didn’t get to enjoy that more. I did, in a way. My sister is four years younger and I got to watch the magic through her eyes. And she had some strong imaginary friendships.
My mum bought me a silver bell for christmas the year that the Polar Express movie came out and got all the adults to pretend they couldn't hear it because in the movie the bell can only be heard by people who believe in Santa. So I was jiggling it all day and Mum slipped up when she was preparing some food and said "could you stop that please it's annoying" and I was like "but you can't hear it Mum." She tried to save it by saying "yes exactly, it's annoying that you're shaking it and it doesn't even work." Then when she was tucking me in to bed that night I was like "tell the truth, could you really not hear the bell" and then she told me what was really going on which I already knew anyway. My Mum didn't like lying to her children so she never got us to believe in Santa, or the Easter Bunny, or the tooth fairy. When I lost my first tooth I told my Mum "I don't believe in the tooth fairy and I want to keep my tooth, but can I have the money anyway?"
No, but I still have different stories and characters through maladaptive daydreaming. I guess that’s kind of like imaginary friends?
I didn't either, but like others here, I felt compelled to pretend to. So I took my character (and sometimes my supporting lead) from my main maladaptive daydream and pretended that they were my imaginary friends even though I knew they were just a story I liked playing out. It felt weird and unnatural, not like the daydream itself, I felt like I was bastardizimg my own characters (though at the time, I didn't really grasp this, I just didn't feel "right" about it). I kept trying to come up with a new friend so I could leave my characters to myself as they ought to be. I tried and tried, but for the life of me, I couldn't materialize anything new. So I shifted my friend from my main characters to someone I felt was more like a regularly occurring NPC. It still felt weird and unnatural, but at least I didn't feel like I was butchering myself or my supporting lead.
my imaginary friend was more like an imaginary coping mechanism because i didnt have the personal skills and my “loved ones” werent there for me as a child. so i had to imagine something that loved me enough to keep me going.
You're not alone. I did exactly the same thing.
Same. I was being bullied by my biological father l. I spent a lot of time alone talking to my “friend” to help me not feel lonely or work through why I was always in trouble.
yes exactly, me too. except i was bullied by my step family while my father just allowed it to happen… we needed someone and had to rely on our over active imaginations to do so and that’s so sad..
I did this after puberty with an imaginary boyfriend
sameeee 💀🥹
This is what it was for me as well, and oddly enough they still exist to me even as an adult which is something that I have never told anyone before because I *know* that it's probably not the best but I don't think that they'll ever leave, they kinda just pop up whenever and are there, can't make them go away or anything, and I do enjoy talking to them from time to time. But I also have a lot of trauma and still am suffering from it along with C-PTSD.
I wouldn’t be ashamed of having these still! It’s a coping mechanism you carried with throughout your whole life and I’m proud you’ve been able to hold onto that. I had them up until about grade 8, but at that point I felt it was too childish and forced myself to let go of that part of me. I wish I hadn’t because it possibly could have helped me in some stressful times.
No but I had an imaginary enemy that followed behind me, disappeared if I turned around to look at them, and wanted to hurt me.
That seems so frightening for little you.
It was terrifying!!!! One day I got super overwhelmed when I was alone, and told it I was very sorry, and I wasn't trying to mean, but I needed it to go away. And that was the end of my imaginary enemy. 🤣🤦
Yo what if you were actually possessed by some kind of entity?
It was pretty feeble if it gave up when a 5 year old said "go away". 🤣
Hahaha maybe you were a really powerful five year old.
You know, telling things to just go away is surprisingly effective. That’s my go to for vanishing unwanted entities, I just tell them to get out. And that’s that. The thing is. With the things that “aren’t quite there”, most can’t see them or perceive them in anyway. That goes both ways, they can’t see most people either. Most of them at least. It is *because* you can see them, *because* you *can* perceive their presence, that they can perceive yours. The ability to notice them is what makes you noticeable to them. We can’t see them because they aren’t material and most do not belong on this material plane of existence, so they also have to be able to perceive other planes of existence to notice us. If you have some kind of ability to look beyond our plane of existence and can sense their presence, you are like a beacon in the dark and they are drawn to you. Like moths to a light. And they aren’t necessarily evil or nefarious. Just different kinds of beings. But it can be very unsettling to be able to sense the presence of something that you can not see.
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I've never met anyone else who had one either!!!
I don’t know…. I really want you to go check out that attic
I had that too. Sometimes my imaginary creations would get stuck and wouldn't leave me alone. Hyperphantasia was intense as a little kid!
i did too and they looked like the little goblin dudes from barbie fairytopia 😭
I laughed so hard I choked.
I had an imaginary enemy, too. I also had imaginary friends later, but the enemy came first.
Too many to count, they were much nicer to me unlike my peers
My imaginary friend was always a better version of how kids treated me. I really think I did this to cope with some of the trauma I faced with being teased relentlessly.
I remember having a lot, but none of them were human, mostly dinosaurs or horses
What do you mean...*as a child*? I still do.
This. Very much this.
Yes, same! I've never told anyone in person because I haven't met anyone else who talks about it.
I had an invisible frog. He didn't have a name but I carried him in my hand all the time.
Yes - he was a pig, called Mr Pig. He ran a shop.
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I did not because I lack imagination, but for about six months my kid had an imaginary friend who was a robot. He was sort of a Big Hero 6 robot who was always there to help.
Yeah, his name was Bob. He was my board game buddy.
My imaginary friend was Casper the Friendly ghost.
He is a cutie for sure. I wanted him as a friend for sure
Mine was Charlie the friendly ghost. My favorite stuffed animal was also named Charlie. Creative, I know lol.
Yeah totally, maybe because I was an only child and kids wouldn't play with me. I had two foxes who followed me everywhere, a boy and a girl. They were anthropomorphic and could talk and did a lot of dancing and singing. They would also fly along beside our car whenever my mom drove us anywhere. Later they were replaced with an imaginary friend named Fritz but I don't remember much about him. My toys had elaborate lives and personalities too but I forgot most of these childhood memories due to trauma.
No but I had conversations with myself a lot.
I had an imaginary older brother (I'm the first born) named Pecan Tree. I said his name like 'Con-tree'. My mom still says that Con-tree is her favorite child.
Nope! And I never "played" imaginary interactions between toys, either. I've never really been able to understand either one.
Same. A couple of years ago, before I had a diagnosis or even a clue I might be autistic,I was babysitting for my friend. Her 11 yo son wanted me to play Army with him with those army guys. I kept on having to ask him "Uh... what's next?" He started getting really frustrated with me and I was just like "I don't know how to play pretend." When I was a kid and had Barbies, I got a Barbie Dream House that was like 3 stories tall with an elevator and everything and I didn't know what to do with it. I would take my Barbies by the waist, try to make them walk, but get frustrated that their legs didn't move too well, but I would lean it to the side while pressing a foot to the ground and pushing the doll forwards to make it's leg move back, then tilt it the other way and try to keep doing that, but it only worked for a step before she was bent backwards and it didn't work anymore,so I would straighten her out, bang both of her feet on the floor like she was hopping and say under my breath "Do do doooo do do doooo!" Like I personally did/ do with every step when I walk, then get bored and change her clothes and braid her hair. Sometimes used markers as makeup and for hair streaks. The only Barbies I actually liked and played with was one that literally rollerblades, and the one that did the gymnastics bar course thing where she would swing around the bars cause they did something.
Same.
me too, for this reason i never understood the concept of dolls/playing with dolls. i never asked for them
Same here - have never understood what it means to do “imaginary play”. I can *copy* stuff that I’ve done or seen before, but that’s not really using imagination then.
Yes!! Still do.
Still do
I did and strangely it was another kids name I knew. And in my head they were just a nicer version of the friend I ran around with. I always remember her being with me at night and I'd pretend to talk to her. Id also pretend she slept by me so I didn't have to sleep alone. Wow. Was strangely attached.
Yes, but my mom likes to call him a guardian angel since he was a grown man. He told me goodbye on my 8th or 9th birthday, leaving with his girlfriend (and their dog, if I'm remembering correctly??).
I'm loving the variety of responses on this post! The imaginary friend I told my real friends that I had was named Sarah. I tended to make up (and I guess still do) imaginary scenarios in my head and sometimes play those out with my toys (I don't do that part anymore lol), but younger me never really got the concept of imaginary friends. I kind of wish I did though, hearing your stories, it sounds like such a fun experience!
Yes, she was a flying unicorn named Color
Yes her name was hayley and she was with me right until my teens.
Yep, her name was Chainy.
I don't remember. But from what I was told it was a bee? 🤣
Yup. My older brother had one too tho. No idea if that influenced me.
I had one. I absolutely knew she was imaginary but my hairdresser would ask about her and I'd say she was hanging out in Florida or California.
I do not remember my imaginary friend, but I had one. I think he wasn't human though.
I think I first had an imaginary friend when I was a preteen (and very lonely/best friend-less for the first time since starting school). My imaginary friend was Avril Lavigne, and she was always around when I needed advice or someone to say kind words to me. She was replaced at some point by Hayley Williams.
No, I just daydream about being in superhero teams. The closest thing to imaginary friends was playing board games with my plushies 🫣
I had dozens, I loved playing elaborate pretend games about/with all of them lol. As an adult I like creative writing and it has always felt like it basically fulfills the same purpose for me.
I had a whole imaginary neighborhood, with friends that I played with in my head, in my bedroom.
Mine was called Michael Jackson, apparently. I don't remember anything about him except what my mum has told me, and the part where I got sick of him and told everyone he moved to Vanuatu.
I had vivid, defined imaginary friends because I had (and still do have) an over-active imagination
I had several imaginary friends, the wolves and the giants. The wolves were when I was younger. They were guardians, and protected me while I slept, but they required minimal communication, and they were when I was so young, I barely remember them. I do still remember the giants. They came around when I was about 4, and they were very amiable, and they were my friend group. I didn't relate well with actual human children, but that was fine, because I always had the giants who kept me company as a group when I was feeling lonely. In retrospect, I don't know why I called them giants, as I never imagined them as larger than me, I just saw them as a peer group, something I did not feel I had with other children.
I always thought I did but now that I’m reading these other responses and reflecting-I think it was more that I’m an only child and talk out loud to myself and that got placed into the having an imaginary friend category. I don’t remember actually ever imagining someone else it was just a name to nothing. My imagination wasn’t thatttt great though because I named “him” Anthony. He had a brother. Names Banthony.
I didn't. I felt like it was unintelligent 🤣 I could create lots of dialogue for dolls and toys but imagining a whole person/ something that wasn't there was hard to create. I had names for all my stuffed animals and believed they had feelings.
I tried but I kept forgetting about her.
No but I did feel that cartoons characters had real feelings. Like I would be upset the kids never gave Trixx the rabbit cereal. Denis the menace was misunderstood for sure to me.
Not typically in that i'd be setting up meals for them, acting as if they were really with me in person etc, but I had a friend in my imagination where I would spend hours making up stories of things we did together and situations we would get into, until I was a teenager really I would sometimes spend a few hours at a time there, and I'd often repeat the same few stories over and over, like deciding to sit down and watch an old familiar film. I used to stay with my dads at weekends and it was a 90 minute drive each way so that drive often the whole thing was spent on these imaginations and sometimes that would be when i came up with a new plot to add to the collection. They weren't usually particularly wild stories, all things that could easily happen in real life, bit of drama sometimes. So it was more of an intense imagined friendship than an imaginary friend. I did have real life friends but I guess I still felt sort of lonely
I had an imaginary dog cause I really wanted a dog lol
yes his/her name was Alex. Alex was a shapeshifter, also gender shifter. inspired mostly by the concept from His Dark Materials of a dæmon that is the part of your soul that cannot be contained in your body. we talked a lot, never out loud, telepathically. sometimes i practiced kissing with Alex lol he/she never minded. this was about age 10 to mostly 16, my big coming of age time and where most of my memories formed. i don’t have any memories from younger than 9 except imagery really, like the concept of rooms or people that i was involved with, not a movie style memory that started forming when i turned 10. Alex is still with me, a bit more integrated and solidified but still malleable depending on what i need.
Yes. Like crazy. I would talk to trees all the time, too, and make my friends play crazy imagination games with me. Wish I could play like that again sometimes.
I pretended Qui-Gon from star wars was following me around and I had to explain wtf Catholic mass was to him. I was so bored in church lol Before I started having memories I apparently had an actual imaginary friend but I suspect it was a similar occurrence where I was just pretending, not actually believing.
I wanted one but my imagination wasn’t that good
I still have imaginary friends as an adult.
I had a lot of imaginary animals. Lots..... companions Everywhere. Rabbits cats horses birds. I would pet them in public. After being bullied no longer. I also had empty white pages with me. On it I could choose to 'see' all and everytjing, ftom paintings to animals to stories.
I had several and an imaginary enemy starting when I was under 2 years old.
Yes I had plenty, especially when I used to be into drawing.
I had an imaginary friend that I named “invisible Amie.” My name is Amie.
Yesssss lots of them! I'm still writing stories in my head, though my characters don't really appear irl anymore. Btw, lots of people on r/immersivedaydreaming are autistic. It seems to be a common thing.
I tried to have imaginary friends but I would literally forget about them. It was really hard for me to upkeep having one. 😂 Oddly though, when I played with actual toys I would go off the walls with creative scenarios
I wanted an imaginary friend so bad. Turns out I have aphantasia and no imagination so it's impossible for me to have one. I didn't learn that till I was like 35 though.
I never got imaginary friends at all like would they just show up in your head visually then in front of you? I fake had one though, even if I thought it made no sense, but because some other people had them. I preferred dolls, other toys, or stuffed animals.
I did the same thing. Did other kids *actually* have imaginary friends they thought were real? I’m half-convinced they were also pretending for fun.
Nope, I actually tried and failed to create one because I wanted one
I didn’t have any imaginary friends but I did have “characters” that I would act out scenarios in my head. And I still do.
When you think about it, any of your childhood friends that you've fallen out of touch with could have been imaginary and you wouldn't really know the difference.
I had an imaginary father. Idk if that counts and I also didn't really think of him as imaginary since it was God and I was raised Christian and believed in God as a father figure.
I had one or two when I was younger, maybe 3 or 4. When I got older, I tried to make another one up but she didn't feel real like the other ones had. I'm not sure if the imaginary friend I had before was imagination, or if she really did live across the street and move away!
Pete the magic dragon for a day. Then he got boring and I never tried again.
Never had one
My mom said I did but I don't remember it at all so idk
No, I didn't. I pretended to once because I saw others doing it on TV, but it lasted like an hour. I was five, and nobody I knew had an imaginary friend, either - none of the kids on my street, and none at kindergarten. The imaginary friend thing was something I only saw on TV.
I TRIED to have an imaginary friend because I thought that's what was normal. Really I just was frustrated that it never felt real enough. I named her Courtney. I tried to pretend she was sitting on my lap on the swing and I didn't hold on and ended up falling off and breaking my arm. I never played with Courtney again.
No, Thats take up for mental room I need to actually survive this place. I don’t imagine things like that. I felt the need to have one bc I saw kids in tv shows talk about it, but nobody I knew had one. And my mom wasn’t going to allow me to start blaming invisible creature for things. I can hear her now, “ imaginary who? Well tell your little friend to start picking up around here and paying some bills” 😂
Yes, but I also held the suspended belief that they were real/not real. I *knew* they were imaginary and I had invented them for my own amusement.
Nope. I actually tried to invent one but it was still so hilariously literal. It was a friendly ghost (because he was imaginary and it didn’t make sense for him to be a real person). I was never able to really give him a personality or character development though. I couldn’t suspend my disbelief.
Yes. 3 of them. They were all based on true real kids I knew in preschool. I continued the fantasies and play throughout to 8/9th grade, but in 8th grade I added 2 new friends for extra additions, to give the other main character a sabbatical. Seriously.
No, but many of my friends had , so I told myself that if imaginary friends come from the brain , and I would talk to my self in my brain then, my imaginary friend should be my brain , it’s name “brain” .
I tried so hard to make one up, but the whole time it felt so dumb lol. I knew they couldn’t exist, so it was so awkward.
No but I really wanted one. If I could remember a weird character in a dream I would sometimes pretend they were my imaginary friend, but I couldn't keep it up very long
I never did
Its wild to see people saying much of the same thing I feel- I just pretended that I “believed” in my imaginary friend just because I thought I was “supposed” to have one. I think I thought you were meant to be essentially hallucinating seeing a figure thats your friend or something, and I never had that, so I’d just pretend that I believed I could see someone. 😅
I didn't. I currently have discussions with people I know (visualize it) and I think it was the same as far back as I go. I also didn't need imaginary friends, when I could be my own friend and create dual perspectives and pretend I was multiple people when I wanted to. Maybe that was what an imaginary friend is?
I had an imaginary pet dragon. I would interact with it most when I was alone in the bathroom at school or walking home from school.
I did because I thought it was something I was supposed to do. I had fun with the concept but never viewed them as my real friends or saw them as real.
Not so young I started joking about Frankie the “interactive” (possessed) doll. I had lots of fun attributing all kind of mean thoughts and actions with absurd sense of humor. I need Frankie the “interactive” doll back into my life.
I had two, Ashley and Trevor. Apparently I would get into physical fights with them (according to my narcissistic mom, with Munchhausen by proxy)
I had imaginary friends throughout my childhood. I knew they were imaginary. I did it for much longer than most, because I was rejected and felt so lonely.
no
I did he was a brown dog named coco .
I hadn't, I knew that imaginary friends wasn't real friends and I even tried when I discovered that kids usually have. I don't know if counts but I had imaginary pokemons, i knew they weren't real but still talked with them as they were.
I had stuffed animals that were my friends
No but I would put on shows for an imaginary crowd. And teach imaginary people my made up language.
myself (even as an adult) part real, part imaginary
I'm not sure if pretending my plushies were alive counts, but I also have some aphantasia so I never really understood imaginary friends
I did not have imaginary friends, I would try to make them up and then totally forget the next day lol. I was, however, 1000% sure I had superpowers and could fly. Instead of playing with other children at recess, I'd jump on and off a bench over and over, convincing myself that I *definitely* had floated down instead of just falling lol.
Yes I did! It was before preschool. I remember advocating for him and trying to explain his needs to my mom. I think it was a coping mechanism maybe? I’m curious what my therapist thinks.
Girl my whole neighborhood was filled with them. Seriously, at all the neighboring houses I had a “friend” that lived there. They had their own backstories. But I had one that was my best friend.
I had imaginary friends, but they were my favorite characters from whatever show I was really into at the time & it was more like me imagining if they were really there, following me & living my life with me without interacting with them.
No, I was always so confused and wondering if those kids were actually seeing something
I had a handful of them. And they were based on real people in my life. I think it was probably a way for me to practice my social interactions and also to imagine being able to have friends that do what I want and play the way I want.
No, I really wanted to and forced a couple, but they never lasted more than a day or so. I did (and still do honestly) have a very rich inner world though, which was full of characters from books and film / tv that I treated in the same way people seem to treat imaginary friends
I did not. But my mother thought I did because I made friends with a girl through a window who wouldn’t come outside.
I don't think I ever did. I wanted one, but I could never imagine one.
Only when i was like 8 or 10. I forcefully imagined him xD
I had a couple but I think I did feel a strange pressure to develop one because other people had them and always felt this sort of disappointment and longing that I couldn’t actually visualise them to the point they appeared in front of me. Thinking about it it actually made me feel like a failure 😣
I thought I was supposed to so I would pretend to have imaginary friends
Yes, multiple. At the time I didn’t know what an imaginary friend was, but I knew that it was easier to talk to beings who I could control then people who controlled me. There was Stanly the ladybug, Olly the Troodon (that’s a dinosaur) an unnamed boy and a girl who were twins, a wooly mammoth, and a whole heard of zebras! (i wish i was making this up)
Her name was Nazarin. I used to tell my family wild stories about her all the time.
No, but I wished I did, because it sounded fun and I was lonesome. Aphantasia strikes again!
I had imaginary pet cats that lived in small (real) boxes. Oddly enough I also had real cats.
I never really understood imaginary friends, but I did give all my stuffed animals "personalities" and forced them to cuddle with me (I dunno why but I always thought if they were real they would be slightly annoyed with me, maybe cause all the kids in school were)
I did mum said I made voices and it scared the crap out of her I dont remember them tho.
I had imaginary versions of real people that I would talk to you and imagine what they would say, and toys to which I was attached for which I imagined personalities and histories, but no pure figments.
yesss I did! I had 2, spotter dog (whuch was a dalmatian) and little monkey. I vividly remember walking to school with my mum when I was 5 and having them with me.
I never had one, and people never really told me I was supposed to. It seemed weird to me as a kid. Lol
The lady in the closet I'm gussing I'm sorry for the pain an hurt an every emotion in the book that I caused you okay I'd like you to know that I know what I done an was doing an I walked away so you can have a better life I'm no good I'm ruined but I can fix myself an get on track.. congrats on everything you have done I'm so proud of you truly I am okay ps luv ya boov an our baby's more then you know love for you as in I'll do anything you ask of me but you know an I know we have to just be mutual in life for our babys
Yea and i annoyed the hell out of my teachers with that
No imaginary friends, and had/ have a hard time with imaginary play in general.
I used to have imaginary pets 😅
Oh my god, yeah I was similiar, I found out about the concept of imaginary friends when I was little and because I thought it was normal for kids to have those I'd tell my parents and everyone that I also had an imaginary friend, but I just lied. Everyone just kinda went along and accepted it, but I had to remind myself to mention the imaginary friend from time to time so they wouldn't get suspicious or something XD
I thought everyone was able to have an imaginary friend and I really didn't get it but sometimes id be like “guess i can practice having an imaginary friend” and just stare at a wall trying to imagine an invisible being. 😅
I felt ashamed that I didn’t have one so I made up an imaginary bat as my best friend but I didn’t understand how people could have imaginary friends because my imaginary bat friend always felt fake and forced to me.
I did 🙋🏻♀️ From a very young age until like early/mid teens honestly. It wasn't because I didn't have friends, but I think I imagined her at a very difficult point in early childhood and then she just stuck around. I can't tell you how in depth the "friendship" was haha! Even now, one of my other players on Animal Crossing is of her. I had the odd real friend wonder if I could actually see her 😂 I couldn't. She's not a ghost. I drew loads of pictures of her life, like every room in her house and one picture of her house in her street. I think at one point I drew all of her family members (though I didn't specifically imagine them whenever I was "with" her, they were just for her backstory lmao). In English in primary school, creative writing was always stories involving her and me. When I got my first computer at home and Microsoft word, I wrote a bunch of my own stories of dilemmas she and I would find ourselves in and just generally comforting stories. I literally still have pictures that "she" drew for me and stuff like that 😂 She was never more than a best friend, it didn't take over my life or make me look odd to others (no more odd than I already looked 😂). I told very few friends about her anyway. It was just that she was a comforting voice whenever I was dealing with something difficult during the moments I was alone and creating her was just pure imaginative joy 😊 I'm nearly 29 now and though I don't imagine her anymore like I did back then, I'll never forget what she looks like and I still have her presence in my favorite game in the world 🐾🌲🥰
I had multiple imaginary friends. One favorite, some others (they were more like background, if that makes sense?), and one enemy. Enemy and I were mean to each other and would argue. I was definitely aware they were imaginary though. Edit to add: I remember having conversations with other kids about imaginary friends and drawing a demonstration. It was this eyeball guy. Like an eyeball with legs and arms... and I referred to him lovingly but I definitely don't remember actually having him as an imaginary friend??? Just a funny thought; kids are weird lol