Day 31

Happy Birthday, Harry! (And Happy Late Birthday to Neville, whose birthday was yesterday!)

The Last Question: What is the effect of Harry Potter on your life/how much does it mean to you?

This might be a long answer (or short, since I should be fixing lunch).

I first read Harry Potter in college, right before Deathly Hallows (the book) came out. 

I've been through a lot -- maybe just as much as the next person.  The death of my baby brother, several moves (in and out of country), new schools, horrible roommates, an awful romantic relationship that caused severe depression and suicidal tendencies, family drama (the tragic kind, not the funny kind), a kidnapping* and always, always saying goodbye. 

When you pile all that up, it looks pretty bad.  I have trust issues, authority issues, attachment issues, I suffer from depression and unhealthy cravings (alcohol, smoking, cutting) and I think I have alexithymia ("no words for feelings" -- a slightly autistic-esque disorder where I can't process emotions in words, so my body feels them physically).

Pretty rough for a twenty-five year old.

But when I read Harry Potter, my world became brighter.

I was afraid of death prior to reading the HP books.  Even though I believe in God and trust (sometimes) that He is making arrangements for me, because of the death of my brother I had a hard time dealing with death.

The Harry Potter series, at its core, is about death.

Going with Harry on the journey through his years at Hogwarts helped me come to terms with death.  It's a fact of life.  And it's not a scary fact (or doesn't have to be).  You can 'greet death as an old friend' and live while you're alive.  And you can grieve for the ones you've lost.  You can remember them and honor their memory.  They don't have to be gone forever.

That was the first lesson.

There are several more -- learning that your choices make you who you are; that love triumphs over evil (ultimately, even if not immediately); that good friends make life worth living; that people (even evil ones) have value; and that people are more than they seem are just a few of the things I learned.

Harry Potter helped me:

• theologically/spiritually: my theology of death, faith/belief, trust, and mercy/forgiveness have all been shaped by reading these books.
• 
  
• mentally: when I feel down, I pull one of them out and retreat from the world for a while.  I come back, having learned something or read something that inspires me to go on.  Being sorted into Hufflepuff on Pottermore has allowed me to see that I am of value and that I can do something with my life.
•  
• emotionally: I've learned the importance of communication and letting my feelings have a safe place to come out and it has been slowly, slowly helping me come out of my shell.
•  
• relationally: I've made more friends since reading Harry Potter and can have conversations with complete strangers.  I feel more connected to the world and to people as we discuss what this series means to us (or just how much we'd love to be in a Quidditch match)

HP has helped me in ways that no amount of therapy has been able to do.  I am a better, more whole person for reading the series.  Even now I can see bits of myself changed or changing because of the HP books.

Rowling will probably never know how many lives she's touched with these books.  They're a big part of why I want to write. 

Thank you, Ms. Rowling, and thank you, Harry.

Source: tumblr.com via Kate on Pinterest

What do the Potter books mean to you?

 ------------------------

*This is a semi-long story.  Some of my parents' friends (on request from my parents) took away all forms of communication and shut me up in a bedroom for days because they thought something was going on that wasn't.  I never went to the police (I was in shock and couldn't even think straight) so I'm the only one still reeling from the occurrence.  My family pretends it didn't happen.