6 Cents on Defining Sanity

Well, it’s nice to know that I am not the only weird person in this family- I also indulge in the same media over and over again.  Almost everyone knew freshman thru junior year in college that I fell asleep watching The Princes Bride every night.  Senior year, it was rare that people would walk into my apartment and Twilight would not be playing (because that is such a good movie).  But even all through childhood, I watched the same movies over and over again (Pocahontas, The Lion King, An American Tail, and pretty much all other children’s movies).  My father used to bellow at me about this obsessive habit of mine (even as recently as a couple years ago when I couldn’t stop watching Guys and Dolls- I love Marlon Brando).  

I stopped trying to understand why I liked the same thing over and over again.  And not just movies.  A friend of mine came over one time and took a nap on my couch (she intended to sleep for only twenty minutes or so).  When she fell asleep I was listening to “Home” by Michael Buble.  She said a few times she would become more conscious and thought only a few minutes has passed because she kept hearing “Home”.  After this (and a couple hours later), she realized something wasn’t right, woke up, realized it had been hours and ridiculed me for listening to the same song over and over again!

Books too!  I have several books on my eReader that I have read a hundred times if I have read them once (and no, Twilight is not on my eReader, yet- but I have read it a hundred times).  But take Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, for instance.  It’s one of my favorites.  I have read it several times, at least once every couple years and every time I do, a difference scene resonates and I latch onto it.  It’s the same story, same plot, same ending, same emotional up and down every time, but because a different parts speaks to me, it remains different.  And I am not the only one who has these similar feelings with their favorites.  Everyone has a favorite book, song, album, movie, TV show (mine is ALIAS) that they watch repetitively (perhaps not as obsessively as me or members of my family).  And there is always that one passage, line, verse, scene or plot that captivates us.  And there is always that one passage, line, verse, scene or plot that we have never noticed before that was overlooked before but has new meaning. 

And last year I read a CNN article (http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/27/daily.pleasure.real.simple/index.html) that removed any lingering guiltiness about my obsessive media enjoyment.  The article says that repetition is a way to add pleasure in life.  The article encourages putting your favorite song on repeat (and by extension let’s say movies and books too).  However, it also says that too much of a good thing can get old.  But by that time, I have moved onto my next obsession.

Wikipedia defines insanity as, “a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal or behavioral patterns.”  Since everyone in my family has a similar obsession with movies (and I don’t think we are the only ones…), we don’t display any abnormal behavior, and therefore we are all sane!  That’s logic.