This is the reason why you love romantic stories so much
One of the nicest things about the cold and dark months is the movies and books you can enjoy with the coziness of the season around you. The movies we all love to watch, like Love Actually & the Holiday, have an important commonality: they are about love, and they end exactly as you hoped. Why do we love those kinds of stories so much, with the predictable ending (despite all the unexpected twists throughout the story)?
The reason is actually very sweet
Romantic stories usually contain a few fixed ingredients, in which we can easily recognize ourselves. The excitement surrounding a new love, the uncertainty, and the hope that everything will turn out well when things get a bit complicated. These are all things everyone experiences, or has experienced, in their love life. It makes it wonderful to occasionally look at it from a distance and think: ‘Omg, girl, Same!’ And yet it is also a kind of escape from reality. When you find yourself in a tough situation, it can be delightful to escape to a world where everything eventually works out. That is a kind of reassurance, at the moments when you can't see how your complicated situation can still turn out well. Personally, I experience this especially in books, where you can create your own image of how everything looks and in what kind of environment it takes place.
No shame in your emotional game
Very important: occasionally having a good cry. But sometimes you just have no reason for it, while it can be so good to release some daily tension with a few nice tears. So it's super nice when you read a book or watch a movie in which you can recognize yourself, and you understand the feelings of the main characters so well that you can let a few tears flow. If you really want to go all out, you should ‘read ’A Little Life'.’ In the review from NRC Handelsblad, it states that the book ‘pierces your soul’. But you need to set aside a tough week for it, because getting over it is not so easily done.
Image: @dualipa
