Harry Potter Got Me Through Quarantine
Author: Gabrielle Heimerling
June 23, 2020
Harry Potter got me through the first few
months of quarantine.
Let me
explain.
I am a big reader. I love adding to my “to
read” lists and adding completed books to my “read” list. I love to talk about
books, read book reviews, get book recommendations, and be in book clubs. I
always have a book within reach. The library is my happy place. I can easily
zone out for hours reading. I. Love. To. Read.
March 2020 and COVID-19. Government mandated
stay-at-home orders. A reader’s dream! But then it wasn’t. During early COVID
days my favorite pastime made me feel impatient and angry. The stories were
frustrating. The characters were weak and whiny and their problems were
trivial. Reading left me dissatisfied, annoyed, and highly distracted. The real
world felt destabilized and books could not ground me. Everything was
overwhelmingly sad and scary, and my main coping mechanism had failed me. It
was a low point.
Enter Harry Potter.
I am a proud Potterhead. My journey into the
Wizarding World began 20ish years ago on a recommendation from my best friend
and most trusted book recommender. Trust me, she said. They are really good. I
was instantly besotted. I would reread the entire series in anticipation of
each new release. I never grow tired of reading and rereading and rereading.
I returned to Hogwarts at the end of March. By
then I was mentally and physically depleted from learning how to function in
the time of COVID where everything felt like loss. Diving back into the
Wizarding world firmed my shaky ground. The world was familiar. I knew the
stories by heart. Nothing was surprising. I knew how to prepare for the sad
times and knew it would eventually end in triumph. I started to relax and
breathe. The constant assault of noise from the news and all of the
togetherness began quiet. The heaviness of my worry and grief began to lighten.
Reading about this fantasy world was reconnecting me to the real one. I started
to feel more like myself. I started to simply feel better. And that feeling
better began to fill other life spaces. I had been feeling painfully guilty
that my quarantine family experience had been severely lacking at least
according to Facebook and Instagram. We had not scavenger hunted, gone on long
meandering family walks, baked dozens of cookies or planted vegetables. People
were finding silver linings everywhere, but I could not muster the energy to
look.
Enter Harry Potter.
Dinner discussions now revolved around the
book I was on, finding a movie marathon on TV (hint: SYFY or ABC Family always
has one on) where we would compare book and movie differences, we finished a
puzzle of Hogwarts, we competed in online Harry Potter quizzes, and
problem-solved our way through an online Harry Potter-themed Escape Room.
Daniel has an amazing ability to recall the chapter names if you give him the
book and number, and we played that a lot. For example — Daniel, what’s Order
of the Phoenix Chapter 12?... “Professor Umbridge.” His success rate is
remarkable.
The books carried me through April and May. I
read a lot, some days for hours on end. They were always with me. It was
reading therapy and it was helping. It brought me stability and familiarity. It
was healing. I knew that I was in a good place when I had reached the Epilogue
in Deathly Hallows and didn’t feel despair that I was finished. It felt
like leaving a favorite vacation place; sad it was over but knowing I can
return and it will be just as wonderful.
I am now reading the stack of library books
I’ve had since pre-COVID. And while so far none of the books has reached Harry
Potter levels of enjoyment, I’m at least willing to pick up a new one. To be
grateful that I have the energy to do so. To trust that I know what makes me
happy and connects me to my family in a way that Facebook or Instagram does
not.
Harry Potter got me through the first few
months of quarantine. And for that I will be grateful.
Always.
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