Terry Pratchett once wrote: “Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.”
I love that imagery, it’s beautiful and really captures the inherent struggle that we are simultaneoulsy divine and animalistic. And it’s so true.
We’re animals, after all; driven by instinct, hunger, emotion. But we’re also something more. Something imaginative. Ethical. Hopeful. We dream. We strive. We tell stories not just to entertain ourselves, but to explain who we are and who we’re becoming.
Some people scoff at the idea of personal narrative. They call it delusional, self-absorbed. But narrative isn’t the problem. Unquestioned narrative is. The point isn’t to escape into fantasy. It’s to use it to build bridges between who we are and who we want to be. To reconcile the rising ape and the falling angel. To give shape to our values, our struggles, our becoming.
That’s what a journal is for. Not to lie to ourselves. But to hold up the mirror and sometimes, to sketch what we hope to see reflected in the future.
Today’s journal prompt:
What personal myth or story do you carry about who you are? Where did it come from and is it helping or hindering your growth?
What’s one fantasy, one vision of a better you, you’re ready to start living?
Happy journaling.
Dave Bawden is the founder of This Journaling Journey, where he helps people (especially men) use journaling to rewrite their personal myths, reconnect with meaning, and define success on their own terms. He writes at the intersection of self-authorship, narrative identity, and everyday philosophy.
