Instead, I Ride Dragons | Teen Ink

Instead, I Ride Dragons

July 16, 2015
By KatalyticReaction GOLD, Frisco, Texas
KatalyticReaction GOLD, Frisco, Texas
17 articles 1 photo 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
"We need more completely sane people doing completely crazy things.” -Hank Green


Most of my life is lived inside of my head.

I don’t do sports. I don’t hang out with my friends on the weekends. I don’t go to the mall after school.

Instead, I ride dragons.

In fact, I become a dragon.

I breathe fire. I freeze towns. I destroy mountains, and I save the world once or twice or every day.

Inside my head, I am witty.

I can deliver speeches on the spot, complete with confidence and clever remarks. I can construct arguments so solid and irrefutable that everyone is left speechless and in awe. I can be so cool that the melting polar ice caps wouldn’t be a problem anymore. I can write essays that blow everyone else out of the water. I can jump through a window to save someone from a burning building and land perfectly safe on the concrete sidewalk hundreds of feet below me. I can- well, you know.

I can do everything, inside my head.

And out here, in the world that is real?

What can I do here?

There are no dragons to ride, and I cannot be a dragon.

I can’t breathe fire or freeze towns or destroy mountains or save the world even once.

I can’t be witty.

I can’t do speeches, written beforehand or not, with bravado and brilliant one-liners. My arguments are like the Titanic; no matter how wonderfully built and well-constructed they are, I only end up driving them into icebergs and sinking them. I am not cool, because I am not a dragon. My essays take forever, and at best, they are average. I would most likely die of smoke inhalation before successfully rescuing somebody from a burning building, or at least die from hitting concrete after jumping from a window hundreds of feet up.

I can’t really do anything, much less everything, here in the world that is real.

So, instead, I ride dragons.


The author's comments:

This is me, being an introvert.


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This article has 6 comments.


JRaye PLATINUM said...
on Aug. 9 2015 at 8:57 pm
JRaye PLATINUM, Dorr, Michigan
43 articles 10 photos 523 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;If you build your house far enough away from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you.&quot;<br /> <br /> &quot;Have you ever looked fear in the face and said, &#039;I just don&#039;t care.&#039;?&quot;

You, KatalyticReaction, are my hero. :) I myself am more of an ambivert, but I can very much relate to this! This is such an uplifting, inspiring, imagination-fueling piece.

Beila BRONZE said...
on Aug. 3 2015 at 9:27 pm
Beila BRONZE, Palo Alto, California
3 articles 0 photos 516 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.&quot; -Mark Twain

The entire piece is perfectly written, from the fantastic title to the flow between paragraphs. This is so true--I wish every introvert in the world could read this. One of my friend's favorite quotes: "We read to know we're not alone." By that criteria, this piece is exceptionally worthy of being read. Beautiful.

Hypnos BRONZE said...
on Aug. 2 2015 at 2:38 pm
Hypnos BRONZE, Santa Fe, New Mexico
3 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
Ships are but boards, sailors but men.

I can so relate

on Aug. 1 2015 at 7:30 pm
SomeoneMagical PLATINUM, Durham, New Hampshire
22 articles 1 photo 259 comments
Great piece! Thanks for your comment on my article;) good job. Deserves the check mark!

on Aug. 1 2015 at 1:42 pm
Qudsia PLATINUM, Aligarh, Other
26 articles 0 photos 39 comments

Favorite Quote:
bravest of you are not those who can defeat a lion but the ones who can defeat anger

Almost my own story

on Aug. 1 2015 at 9:42 am
Ray--yo PLATINUM, Kathmandu, Other
43 articles 2 photos 581 comments

Favorite Quote:
God Makes No Mistakes. (Gaga?)<br /> &quot;I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.&quot; -Liesel Meminger via Markus Zusac, &quot;The Book Thief&quot;

Yes! Your writing is really... cool.. Stay awesome :D