The world of fiction is one of the unlimited possibilities. For some people, they find joy in fantasy. For others, a toothachingly sweet flurry of romance. However, some people take fiction more seriously than others.
The real world can sometimes be too much to handle at times. It can be taxing with commitments such as work, relationships, finance and a myriad of external and internal sources of conflict.
When life gets too much for some people, an escape would be more than welcome. And what else can that be than one of the easiest and most irresistible escapes other than the fictional world? In the world of fiction, you can be anything. You can believe in anything and be anywhere else rather than where you are now.
On a regular day, immersing yourself in fiction is completely fine. The line between fiction and reality is not blurred as you consume whatever piece of fiction tickles your fancy, whether that is in Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Oda’s vast seas in One Piece or even the hallways of the apartment in How I Met Your Mother.
Where it starts becoming a problem is when the line is blurred and you get detached from reality by being influenced too much by fiction. A number of reasons can lead to this; the lack of communication or guidance from loved ones which leads to a troubled person turning to fiction to seek help; being envious of an ideal world in the work of fiction rather than your own to an extreme degree or even just a serious desire to escape into the fictional world after giving up on the real one.
When the line is blurred, fiction becomes a dangerous pitfall for those who seek to bring its values over to the real world. For instance, internalising impossible situations and reasoning from a drama and believing that the same happy ending outcome will happen in the real world for you if just do the same thing. Such a dangerous line of thinking not only means you are detached from reality but also unable to mature on your own and requires an unhealthy crutch from a source that is questionable at best.
Instead of turning to fiction, as much as it seems easy and compelling, perhaps it is more important to keep your foot firmly on the ground and seek help from people who are soldiering through the hustle and bustle of everyday life with you. The fictional world is indeed more illustrious, engaging and happy. Be that as it may, the grass is not just greener on the other side, but in the fictional world, the grass isn’t even real.
Hartwick is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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