The Real World versus Fictional Ones

Have you ever read a book that was so good, you wanted to live inside it? In the fictional city, with the fictional characters. A book that to you, would be the perfect life? 

Reading is something that I could do everyday for hours. Visiting Narnia with Lucy and Edmund, fighting alongside Katniss Everdeen, it makes my imagination grow. With every new series I read, I think more and more about it, about the journey the characters are taken on throughout the book. I get invested in the characters and become obsessed with their stories. With their journey. 

It has been proven that reading is good for your brain and makes you smarter. So, it’s a win-win, right? Getting to curl up with a book and dive into your imagination, while at the same time, it’s good for you. All of that is true. But there is always a line. 

I remember the first series I read, which was the Divergent trilogy that had me truly fascinated. That had me thinking about the plot of that dystopian universe, day and night. I thought about how the messages I took out of it applied to the characters, what they had gone through, and how they had overcome things. I loved it. It inspired me. Then when I was done, I found another series and another. I finally understood what my teachers and parents were saying when they told me to read a book. Books are great. They have taught me so much. 

When people ask me what my favourite book is, I always have to think about it for a minute before I answer. From the Divergent series, to Twilight, to ones that aren’t so famous, there is a lot to choose from. There is one series that I always come back to though: The Hunger Games trilogy. I’ve learned so many things from these three books. The life lessons range from survival to love, but there is one thing that I’ve taken out of the books that I think is the most important and it’s this: It only takes one person to make a change. You can have more of an impact than you imagine. You just have to go all in. Much like how the main character sparks a revolution with something as simple as a handful of berries, I can spark a change, with something as simple as my voice. All it takes is one person. Because every fire begins with just one spark. 

But the line that separates the fictional worlds that I love so much, to the real world is important. The line that I shouldn’t cross. It’s fun to think about living in Forks or on Tatooine but that shouldn’t be more important than reality. No matter how much I love the book I’m reading, I always remind myself to make sure I’m prioritizing reality. Sometimes I think that fictional worlds are so much cooler than the real one. There aren’t wizards or superheroes in real life. Well, at least not the kind that wear capes and can fly. But wanting to be a fictional character is something that many people have thought about. Instead, think about this: Look at everything your character has learned. Everything that made them a better person, all the messages that they give to you. And then apply those things to your own life. Use them to help you become more like who you want to be. Don’t make yourself into them but use them to make yourself more you.

That way, instead of just being excited to dive into my book, and living through the story of the characters, I am excited to wake up, be the person I want to be, and live my own story.