Maybe We’re Fictional | Shaikha Al Ketbi | TEDxZayedUniversity
The speaker argues that imagination—the tendency to create elaborate explanations for everything—is a persistent, powerful creative force that helps people navigate life's perceived randomness and recover from mental distress. She illustrates this by recounting creating the fictional 'Quom' and 'Queen Shush' to manage life's perceived insults, and recovering from severe anxiety by painting entire solar systems on her walls.
## Speakers & Context
- Speaker presents as an individual who was a child who asked "about 400 to 500 questions a day," creating detailed explanations for everyday phenomena.
- Speaker relates the difficulty of maintaining composure, noting that when friends became angry, she remained "the chillest person in the room" because she felt the "Kingdom" depended on her remaining composed.
## Theses & Positions
- The inherent human tendency is to use imagination to create explanations for things that seem arbitrary or unexplained.
- Imagining fictional equivalents (a 'Quom' or 'Kingdom') to people and events allows the speaker to process and manage real-life relationships and feelings.
- Resilience and potential are unlocked when one reaches a "Rock Bottom," suggesting that difficult experiences are necessary catalysts for growth.
- The solution to everyday problems lies within the "child that never actually grew up."
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Automated:** The concept that something works on its own, which the speaker found too abstract for a five-year-old to grasp.
- **Quom:** A self-invented word used by the speaker because no English word exists to describe "an Empire ruled by a female."
- **Queen Shush:** The speaker’s created alter ego, who is portrayed as a benevolent ruler of the 'Quom' who dictates how the speaker treats others.
- **Shadow Shush:** A negative, self-critical alter ego characterized by telling the speaker that she was "stupid," "ugly," and undeserving.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Inventing Explanations:** Creating intricate, fabricated narratives to explain observable phenomena (e.g., the manual traffic light operator).
- **Kingdom Projection:** Mapping real-life relationships onto the fictional 'Kingdom' where compliments result in giving "an island," while insults result in forcing the recipient to watch *Teletubbies* on "full volume on repeat."
- **Cognitive Re-framing for Exams:** Convinced herself to pass tests by imagining the 'Queendom' required a "quality control check," compelling her to achieve straight A's.
- **Artistic Catharsis:** Using drawing, progressing from small sketchbooks to painting walls and floors, as a portal to reconnect with the confidence of 'Queen Shush' after experiencing crippling anxiety.
## Timeline & Sequence
- **Early Childhood:** Period of asking excessive questions, fabricating detailed explanations.
- **Childhood Example (Traffic Light):** Age five, creating the story of a skinny man trapped in a traffic light pole manually operating the signals.
- **Adolescence/Young Adulthood:** Development of 'Queen Shush' alter ego, prompted by fights with a friend ("Listen who Do You Think You Are Queen of the world").
- **Period of Anxiety:** Transition from confidently speaking before 300 people to being unable to order coffee due to anxiety, leading to the dimming of 'Queen Shush'.
- **The Low Point:** Experiencing "Rock Bottom," leading to painting on walls and floors, which signals a resurgence of creative potential.
## Named Entities
- **Queen Shush:** The benevolent, imaginative alter ego ruler of the speaker's self-created 'Quom'.
- **Shadow Shush:** The negative alter ego who fueled self-criticism.
- **Starbucks Barista:** Treated as a "potion mixer" creating the "elixir of life" via coffee.
## Numbers & Data
- Number of questions asked by the speaker as a child: **400 to 500** per day.
- Age when traffic light belief was established: **five**.
- Age when the speaker is currently: **21**.
- Duration of the speaker’s drawing change: From drawing in a "whole Sketchbook in a week" to drawing only a "single sketch in five months," and eventually to painting "walls" and "floors."
## Examples & Cases
- **Traffic Light:** Explanation of a skinny man manually controlling the lights and experiencing stress.
- **Muted Laughter:** The idea of a "tiny dwarf" in the throat giving an "afterlife" voice to save embarrassment.
- **Fountain Whales:** The old belief that a whale resided beneath every fountain, spurting the water.
- **Queen's Palace:** Imagining unique cutlery and wardrobes for the fictional ruler.
- **Waiting Room:** Viewing strangers as potential characters to populate the 'Kingdom' (e.g., a woman scrolling Instagram is presumed to be a chef).
- **Exam Passing:** Convinced self to pass by establishing that the 'Queendom' itself required a quality control check.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Sketchbook:** Used early in the process of drawing characters.
- **Charcoal/Black Paint:** Materials used to paint the walls and floors during the recovery process.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Automated vs. Manual Explanation:** The trade-off between accepting a simple explanation ("automated") versus building a complex, internally consistent fictional one.
- **Social Confidence vs. Anxiety:** The drastic drop from being a motivational speaker to being unable to perform a basic task like ordering coffee.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The speaker admits that the constant need to create explanations and characters is a persistent tendency that "never really stopped."
## Methodology
- *Imagination* is the primary tool employed, functioning as a continuous explanatory framework for reality.
- **Artistic Medium Shift:** Progressing from drawing on paper to painting on architectural surfaces (walls/floors) signals an increase in scope and depth of creative expression.
## Implications & Consequences
- The ability to use imagination is a vital mechanism for personal survival and recuperation from severe mental health issues like anxiety.
- Breaking or hitting "Rock Bottom" is paradoxically required for discovering untapped, larger potential ("our capabilities are much larger than us").
## Verbatim Moments
- *"I was that kid who ask asked about 400 to 500 questions a day and made everyone insane."*
- *"there is a very skinny man he's so skinny he's trapped inside the pole of a traffic light with a tiny remote that has the colors red green and yellow and he used to actually manually operate the traffic light."*
- *"there's a tiny tiny voice coming from the bottom of your throat and that voice is like a tiny dwarf that is trying to give you that afterlife."*
- *"I just made a word up and I Nam did Queen them."*
- *"I'd be mentally showering your fictional character with gifts I'd be signing off on Treasures to send to you."*
- *"If I'm in a waiting room and for example some woman is sitting next to me scrolling on Instagram looking at pictures of food all I'd be thinking is that she's probably a chef in My Kingdom."*
- *"that child can actually change your perspectives about things you thought are obstacles and you know this very well because every time you talk to a kid you feel a lot better."*