I think that would be less about the series and more about a mental health issue to watch a TV series more than 5 times. There’s comfort in watching shows you know how they’ll go, and I know it soothes anxiety for many people by letting the brain relax. Me, unless I burned through the series and I’m showing it to someone else, I’m not very interested in watching a show more than once, certainly not more than twice. I don’t take comfort in the familiar.
The fact that every day I go to my office, sit at my desk, run the exact same reports, face the same wall, and look at my little calendar of beach scenes I’ll never see in person exasperates me. I understand it for others, but I personally have great difficulty finding comfort or pleasure in routine. I don’t want to go to the same pub every single Friday to drink the same mug of beer and order the same plate of wings. I don’t want to watch reruns of The Simpsons in bed every night before I drift off. I don’t want to wear the same 6 outfits every week. But here I am, doing those exact things.
Sometimes I stay up really late or go to bed really early because I can’t stand the idea of being stuck in this routine. I’ll watch a movie on a Wednesday even though 2-hour shows after work will keep me up too late. I’ll get up at 3 Am just to write a song, then go back to bed. I’ll skip breakfast and have two lunches. I’ll wake up at four in the morning just to read or play video games. I’ll drive to work in different ways, listen to wildly different genres, and sometimes create playlists with insane twists and turns. Parliament, followed by Johnny Cash, and then a concerto, Duran Duran, and then Miles Davis.
Routine makes people feel safe. This is something I’ve learned by living with people with OCD. Clean every day; eat the same food in sequence: Monday is beans, Tuesday is pork, Wednesday is pasta, Thursday is beef, Friday is fish, Saturday is vegetarian, Sunday is a roast of some sort.
Walk in a straight line following the same lines in the sidewalk, and if it’s a cobbled road with a varying pattern in the road, well, we can’t walk down there at all. Hair must be parted the same way every day, with the same washing and dressing routines, and the same show watched every night before bed. Check the locks three times before we can leave the house. Go back to the table we ate at before we can leave the restaurant, in case we left something. I have lived this life with someone, so I understand it. I appreciate the pleasure this routine gives a person and the absolute upset it gives them when that routine is broken. Personally, I couldn’t be more opposite.
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