I woke up this morning groggy as usual. I showered, brushed my teeth, threw on a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie, and begrudgingly walked downstairs to start working. Eight hours later I returned upstairs, watched a few hours of mindless television, then surrendered back to my bedroom, feeling thankful, but resentful, that I made it through another day that felt like it was filled with absolutely nothing important.
As we near a year of living with the covid-19 pandemic, things are starting to feel increasingly stagnant and repetitious. I admit, I am someone that does prefer a repetitive routine – prior to the onset of the pandemic, routine helped me stay on top of school and other commitments in an otherwise hectic life. At this point, my routine is just another reminder that things will not be back to the way that they were before the pandemic, at least for the foreseeable future.
It was depressing. I was watching TV or reading for the sole purpose of passing time, though I wasn’t really retaining anything that I was watching or reading. Free time throughout the day no longer felt like free time – only more time that needed to be filled with some type of mindless activity.
The unfortunate part was that I knew what I needed, I just wasn’t sure how to acquire it. I had faced periods of stagnation in the past – most of us have – and for me, the solution was to find something that could fully immerse me. In the past, it had been anything from video games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (which I would surely recommend), to a television series like Game of Thrones.
It took me years to realize that there was a pattern in the things that I become fully immersed into; they almost all involved some type of extravagant world building, and storytelling within that world. Apparently, the cure to my past boredom and stagnation was becoming completely immersed within a fantasy world. I was determined to see if my “cure” would work, amidst the pandemic, where my boredom was reaching all-time highs.
So I watched all three Lord of the Rings movies for the first time. Extended editions of course – in the interest of understanding the subtle nuances of Middle-Earth.
It worked better than I could have expected. I was completely enthralled with the Lord of the Rings, and the magnificent world and characters developed by Tolkien. And I think that there is no better time than right now for anyone to watch this series of movies or read the series of book if one prefers.
The pandemic has forced us to lock ourselves into our homes, away from friends and family. Any face-to-face conversation has been relegated to Zoom or Facetime. We have worn masks everywhere, whether it be the grocery store, or a loved one’s funeral. We have watched hundreds of thousands die around the world from this dreaded disease.
The fact is that these times kind of suck. We can sugar-coat it as much as we’d like, claiming that “I’ve never gotten so much work done” or that “At least we don’t have to leave our houses in this dreaded winter” but the truth is – and there is no way around it in my opinion – that these times suck. Don’t get me wrong, it could be worse, and it has been, but that doesn’t make now any better.
Once we accept this, things only become easier. This is because we, as human beings, have the ability to create mental scenarios in our head. We can tell stories that never happened, we can create analogies that we’ve never seen, and we can build scenarios based on our own reality.
There is no doubt that things are not great right now. Yet, in Middle-Earth the hobbits are throwing a party in the Shire. Using the unique capabilities that make us human, we can mentally transport to the incredibly marvellous world devised by Tolkien. We can imagine the way an Ent might speak, might walk, and might fight. We can picture the rolling hills of the Shire and fire of Mordor.
Sure, the movies save the work for your imagination unlike the books, yet it doesn’t change the effect. The Lord of the Rings movies didn’t help me emerge out of my stagnation and routine; instead, it was Middle-Earth and the world created by Tolkien that did this. The hours I spent watching the movies could have been filled similarly by watching a different movie or television show, but it wouldn’t have the same effect on my thinking. Now, when things turn mindless, I can imagine what life is like in Middle-Earth. I can imagine the relationship between Gimli and Legolas, and what those two would typically get up to, on a regular day in Middle-Earth.
The major change has been that the LOTR series has provided me with an entirely new world to think about. When I become burnt out from the real world, I can mentally leave it. Some people will read this and think it is a cop out – nothing more than a way to avoid the problems that must be confronted in reality.
And the truth is, I offer nothing in response. If that is what one wants to believe, no one can stop them. But I conclude with a warning – you almost certainly will become burnt out.
If you’re looking for me to tell me I’m right, you can find me deep inside of my own head, wondering where I would fit in Tolkien’s magnificent world.