“You have to start romanticising your life.”
I came across this quote on social media and I have come to realise how much truth there is in it. I have always been very sentimental, the type of person that can cry at any event or place if I feel a surge of emotions. Be it nostalgia, loss, joy, or my personal favourite, the sense of being infinite: where I just get lost in time for a little while.
For some time I thought I was being too dramatic, always living in my head and not in the real world. After reading the sentence above and pondering about its meaning, I realised I was right all along.
We should all romanticise our lives.
By romanticising my life, I enjoy it more; I see everything through rose-coloured glasses, even during challenging and depressive spells. During the more joyful times, I get to rejoice even more because I allow myself to. During challenging times, I allow myself to feel the pain and hurt, so that I can pick myself up with more ease as I know the story is not over. Just like every great heroine, I must be met with conflicts before I can emerge from the ashes.
Even during peaceful and mundane times when I have nothing going on, I get to relish in my life by imagining it as a story. When I am studying, I can pretend to be Hermione Granger trying to get through her O.W.L.s. When I am taking a walk in a park, I can pretend to be Lizzy Bennet walking through the highlands. When I am doing any type of physical exercise, I can pretend to be Natasha Romanoff, training in the Avengers compound.
There is always a parallel between books or films and our own life, if we look for it. Bonus if we love those characters and their stories. If doing this makes life more enjoyable, why shouldn’t we? Especially during such trying and uncertain times, we need to protect our happiness more than ever.
This theme has gained traction on Instagram and TikTok, with viral videos urging, “you have to start thinking of yourself as the main character, because if you don’t, life will continue to pass you by.”
I wanted to find out if other people romanticise their lives, so I spoke to students Phoebe Li and Ivan Lo; their responses suggest that more of us use this tactic to spice up our lives than I originally thought.
“I think everyone romanticises their life a little, I usually do it through movies, comics, and TV shows.” – Ivan.
“I view romanticising life as adding a hint of flavour into the daily routine. It can be energising and motivating. Just like when I am doing chores, I love imagining myself as Rapunzel from Tangled!” – Phoebe.
As I romanticise my life, I learn to appreciate the smaller things. For me, this is the best approach to life. No matter what anyone says, these are our lives, and we have to take control and choose to feel and live them as we wish. This may all sound ridiculous, but I do believe that we should try to be hopeless romantics. After all, our life is our story and we are the protagonist that we should fall in love with.
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