I'm Italy Mone, and this is the Slowdown.

Few things have proven more useful in my life than my own imagination.

It's not simply something that should be fostered in children or artists.

Imagination saves all of us constantly.

Sometimes, before something has happened, I imagine it in its entirety.

So by the time it occurs, I am ready, prepared.

I have imagined myself into situations.

And most certainly, I have imagined myself out of situations.

Sometimes, the imagination is dreamy and ethereal and fantastical.

Other times, it's practical.

If I'm about to send an email, if I'm a little worked up, I pause and imagine what it might be like to be on the receiving end of such an email.

When I'm struggling with my own anger or despair, I imagine a different outcome.

I even try to will a different outcome into being.

I am not exaggerating that my own imagination has rescued me again and again.

I want to celebrate that. Shout it out.

Because in some ways, it is what makes me an artist.

But it's also what allows me a sense of endless possibilities.

I do not just live in the limitations of my own human body.

I live in the boundlessness of my imagination.

Once when I was very sick in 2015, I imagined myself dancing and moving with joy.

I pictured myself in the ocean and then being part of the ocean, moving as easily as water.

And even though I was largely immobilized at the time, I feel like these visualizations and fantasies and creative thoughts are what gave me peace.

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