The healing power of books
and how Harry Potter helped me become stronger
With the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, all of us are cooped up inside our houses. While it is necessary to stay home and stay safe, it can be frustrating.
Reading a book can be a way to step out and travel the world without leaving the comfort of your house. You can heal your stress by being lost among its characters and story.
I am lucky. I grew up in a house where my mom loved reading books. Library membership was a must for her. I don’t know where her love originated from. But mine came from seeing her escape into the world of books.
I started at a very young age. First with comics; then Famous Fives, Nancy Drews, and other detective stories. More than once, I landed in trouble for having taken more books than I was allowed to. But in my defense, a library shouldn’t have a limit. The only limit needed is the number of books you can finish in a week.
One day amongst detective stories, I found something else. I found dragons. I found elves, secret governments, and most importantly, I found magic. It amazed me and captured me like nothing else.
I first read Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban because I mistook the Hippogriff on the cover to be a dragon. I didn’t know that it was the third book in the series. I didn’t know the characters. But nevertheless, I fell in love with them. It was my first fantasy book.
I went back to the start of the series. I read it day and night. I would forget lunch and dinner while Rowling told me the story of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I was awestruck at their bravery, courage, friendship, and love.
It wasn’t a book for kids, it was much more. But I hadn’t realized it then. All 7 books were memorised in my head to the point where I could quote them.
Years later, I realized its true power.
My personal and professional life decided to call it quits at the same time. Disheveled and lying in bed, I could see no way out. My mind didn’t work to find a way out. I was in a cycle of thinking about every mistake, every wrong decision, and every step I took in last year to have landed myself in this position.
I lost my focus and frequently zoned out. I couldn’t concentrate on anything for more than 5 minutes. I didn’t know how to pull myself out. I didn’t know that I had to pull myself out.
In such a state, my eyes fell on the stack of 7 books. The ones that I loved and the ones that were always in front of my bookshelf.
I randomly pulled out the 6th book (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). I knew I wouldn’t be able to read. But I decided to look at the page for 5 minutes and then it will be alright even if I zoned out. I opened a random page and started reading.
Familiar names jumped at me. It was a familiar world, one that was different from mine yet so similar. It had the same values like love, friendship, fate, and destiny. But, it also had magic and an ability to make the impossible happen.
I didn’t know when I finished one page; when I finished one chapter. No one interrupted me, because, for the first time in months, I was doing something other than crying and lying on the bed. I finished the book.
The 6th book doesn’t exactly have a happy ending, but the familiarity and the beauty managed to lift me up. I continued and finished the 7th book as well. Harry’s victory felt like mine.
I didn’t come out of my depression all at once. But, my mind grasped that I have to shake myself up and consciously start taking steps to come out of it. I started my journey of recovery.
Who would have thought that a story written years ago;
Would manage to pull me from the dark depths;
Would make me take control of my life;
Would set me on a path of becoming stronger than ever.
