1. Train Like You’re Preparing
Picture this: instead of just exercising, you’re training for battle or for your travel through the wild lands. You’re not just lifting weights or doing yoga but forging the strength to wield your blade with precision and power. Running the treadmill isn’t just cardio, you’re preparing to flee an enemy’s pursuit through the darkened woods.
Example: A Court of Thorns and Roses series - Think of Feyre at Windhave, the Illyrian war-camp, or Nesta training high in the sparring ring atop the House of Wind. Every movement is more than just working out...you are preparing to defend your realm.
2. Write About Yourself in the Third Person
There’s something that shifts mentally when narrating your own life like it’s part of an epic tale. You are the world-weaver!
Here’s an example when I thought about my drive to work today:
As pink and gray sunlight crested the hills, the light-keeper pulled a soft shroud around her shoulders. She sipped a chilled, creamy brew and noted a mist curling over the meadows but felt there was nothing nefarious in its movement. After a deep, calming breath, she walked over and slid into her traveling vessel. It was a blue machine bearing the power of 151 unseen phantom stallions. As she took hold of the halo reins, she whispered to herself and the awaking morning, 'Whatever lay ahead, I'm ready.'
When you write about yourself this way, your actions, even small ones, feel more alive and meaningful. And sometimes we just need that. So, finishing a work project can become the final strike that secures victory in the day’s campaign or cleaning changes into banishing the dark spirits that linger in your fortress. It's refreshing.
3. Rename Landmarks
Your everyday surroundings may feel ordinary, but they can take on new life when you rename them in true fantasy fashion. When I thought about it, I remembered that Anne of Green Gables did this. So, that intersection you drive through? It’s now Prickle Crossroads. The route you run for exercise through the neighborhood? Dragonfly path. The tiny doughnut shop across town? The House of Sugar Enchantments.
Once you rename a place, you can’t help but see it differently because to rename it makes you notice details you once overlooked. Your senses awaken because you are looking for a name to describe the white glow spilling from your office window or renaming the streets on your way to the dentist because a tall cactus always catches your eye at the corner of 5th and Main. The world feels more vibrant because you give it more of a story.
Enchanting your day in a fantasy style isn’t pretending your reality is something it’s not but maybe just uncovering the magic already there. Why do things have to be bland? So, whether you’re sweating through your “battle training” or renaming the corner store like it's from a fairy tale, I think that weaving a little more wonder into the everyday is beautiful.
My hope is that tomorrow when you pass your favorite café, or lace up your shoes, or pick up your cell phone, maybe you’ll take a moment and see your life through the eyes of a storyteller.
