As much as I love escapist fiction, I choose reality.
I've always loved escapist fiction. For as long as I can remember, I've immersed myself in grandiose series to distract from my every day life. It makes sense, having had my parents divorce when myself and my sibling were very young. Anywhere seemed better than where I was. My teacher's in middle school had to confiscate my Lord of the Rings book, and upon getting back after school, I went home to paint miniatures of all my favorite characters, staging games on a table top with hand made scenery with my neighbors and younger sibling. During that time, I also was deep into Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series, and remember getting new editions of the paperbacks after school at the used bookstore nearby. I have always been eager to step out of the reality I was in, in search of new adventures and experiences to distract from my current ones.
Currently, my other world has been the time hopping realms of the Outlander series, and I've been enjoying reading the books and watching the show simultaneously. Its been interesting to compare the similarities in plots and character development between the two mediums, and has really reminded why I love books, and great big books like these, so much. There's so much space to explore the worlds, and you can while away hours and hours sitting there reading. At the same time, keeping the actions happening in front of you on the page, as opposed to in moving images and sound, keeps you a little more rooted in your own reality. Its like having one foot in the fantasy, while having one safe in your world. You understand the strife and the horrors the characters go through, on their journeys, but you're not forced to witness it visually, thereby growing numb to that kind of behavior (e.g. violence, war, pain, etc). Books teach you to absorb all of that, and understand that its out there, while keeping you empathetic to the characters going through it (and maybe sympathetic too), because you have to construct your own visions of what's happening in your mind, which undoubtedly, will be less intense than seeing actors portray them on the screen.
Books you can also put down though. I have this rule where I won't watch movies or tv during the day, instead waiting until dinner or after dinner, when the sun is going down, before turning on a show. This reminds me to take moments to spend the daylight hours seeing friends, talking to people, and making my own adventures. Today I went to visit some friends who were selling some art at a local market, and before I knew it a few hours had gone by. I left to run to the grocery store, and came home and made dinner, content that I had my stories to come home to after a nice afternoon spent around friends.
I guess this post is a reminder to not get lost in the worlds of the stories I live in (as comforting as it is, having the stories already laid out in front of you). The reality I'm crafting for myself right now is more important, and won't move forward without my direction. Stories are great, and necessary, for providing respite and entertainment after a work day, or even with friends or family, but the most important thing is to obsessively craft my own narrative. Just like the characters I read, it will be scary, and I won't know what's on the next page until I finish the one I'm on, but that won't be possible without taking risks, and embracing the unknown.