Harry Potter

You know when you have one of those days where you just can’t seem to find the energy to do anything at all?  Today has been one of those days for me.  Part of the problem is that my Suby is in the shop getting an much needed oil change, so I’ve not been able to keep up with my promise to myself to take a mini adventure every other day.  The result is that I’m feeling trapped, which inevitably leads to feeling anxious, which saps the energy I would normally have to get up and do something.  The second part of the problem is the weather, which has turned to a foul mix of rain and snow and negative temperatures…  I am deeply susceptible to seasonal affective disorder, which means my depressions tend to worsen noticeably with bad weather.  Thus, between feeling trapped and feeling low because of the gloomy skies, today was almost one of those useless wastes of a day.

Fortunately, all was not entirely lost, as Harry Potter came to the rescue, as he often does these days.  I recently read an article on one of my psychology sites about how good for one’s mental health it is to reread their favourites books or rewatch their favourites movies.  Knowing what’s coming and how things will end is apparently a valid way of self-soothing.  It makes sense then I suppose, that I seem to naturally navigate towards some of my favourites on days like today.  Of the literally thousands of books that I own, the Harry Potter series is the only ones that we brought with us; everything else we read is on Kindle (not my favourite way to read, I still prefer to turn pages whenever possible).

So far on this trip, I’ve reread the Harry Potter books through nearly twice (I’m on the sixth book again), and am working my way through the movies steadily (when wifi is strong enough to stream them in full).  Travis is actually on his fourth round through the books, so he’s got me beat there, though he had never read them through himself before this trip so he finds it easier to read them back to back, whereas I have reread the Harry Potter series a minimum of twice a year every year since they were published.  It doesn’t seem to matter that I know the stories by heart and can find all my favourite quotes without even having to mark the pages, every time I read them is as fresh and new and wonderful as it was the very first time.  I know I’m not the only one that wishes they could thank J.K. Rowling personally for being such an extraordinary writer (Side note: If you haven’t read her other books, including her mystery series written under Robert Galbraith, you are missing out)!

Escaping in to the wizard world keeps me sane a lot, perhaps more then I realised.  Instead of roaming around inside my own head, I can read a story that serves as a very real reminder of good overcoming evil, love triumphing over hatred, and in its simplest form, that life does go on, regardless of the challenges we face.  Those are pretty important reminders these days.