Do you remember when you were a child, jumping over hot lava and running amongst the dinosaurs? Think about how imaginative you were. At any given moment you could be anyone or do anything. Your creativity allowed you to find joy in the simplest of things. Your ultimate happiness was achieved using your imagination, couch, blanket, and a few pillows to erect a castle.

            Today, however, 3 minutes of silence with no entertainment drives most people nuts. They’ve replaced the cardboard spaceship with an $85,000 SUV and the rope swing with a boat containing all the bells and whistles money can buy. Neither of those material things are inherently bad; but where does it end? Perhaps the most damaging thing was people trading in their imagination for a cell phone.

 Everyone has done it, maybe in the living room with nothing to do. There’s no one to talk to and it’s quite boring. Then it happens, you pull that phone out and fire up an app. You paralyze yourself and fall onto the couch as if it were safe and wonderful. While you lay there scrolling, something in your head tells you it’s a waste of time. “You should be doing something more productive or engaging.” However, the scrolling continues. You’re sedated, scrolling through pictures and videos of other people, places you want to go, and things you want to buy.

 Your life is not happening inside of a phone, and while you’re in your scrolling-induced hypnosis, your life is passing you by. People willingly give others their most precious of recourses, their time, and their imagination. Imagination is currency, it’s the price for the social media influencer’s fancy car and the fuel for their fire. They are stealing from you, and you let them.

 What happened, why did you allow yourself to lose such an incredible birthright? No one should have taken that from you. At least you wouldn’t let them willingly, right? Your ability to reflect inward and utilize your imagination will directly improve your happiness. The simplicity of choosing how you feel and using your imagination can be reignited. You don’t need to rely on other people’s experiences to bring you happiness, you create it.

 Try this. Next time you feel like scrolling, go through the pictures on your own phone and reflect on the life that you’ve lived. I look at photos and remember my honeymoon, surfing with the love of my life. If I think hard enough, I can close my eyes and almost feel myself on a wave laughing with her. Mine is the wave on my honeymoon, what’s yours? What memory can you find and really feel again?

            The physical and very real events you experience in your life should fuel you. Don’t trade in your imagination. Take it back and own your happiness.