“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat. “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat. “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

Let’s talk today about one of my most favourite things in the whole entire world: escapism. Escapism, according to Wikipedia is “mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an “escape” from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life. It can also be used as a term to define the actions people take to help relieve persisting feelings of depression or general sadness.” And by most favourite, you know I mean it’s a well abused method for me.

Where can we escape? With escapism, it doesn’t have to be physical so there’s a lot of possibilities. Video games, for instance. When I feel the need to escape my life, I can spend 20 hours a week or more on video games. Roleplaying is another one I often engage in: usually you take on a character and play in a text based game with other characters/players. I’ll even get to points where, because I play multiple characters, I will play just with myself if no one else is around. Books are bad, too. So many alternate universes you can get lost in for a time. The more an author can absorb you, the more I like them. And DVDs. Wow. I know it’s not uncommon for people to work their way through an entire TV series at one go if they really like it, but I’ll go through it two or three times in a row. (Go on, ask me how many times I’ve seen She-Ra or Lexx.) I can be just as bad with movies. I can watch the same movie (or series, if it’s part of a series) for up to a month at a time.

It’s far too easy to get lost in someone else’s world so you don’t have to face this one. And I know this isn’t a condition that effects only the sick, anyone can have it. Anyone who finds the confines of their world to be too small. And, you know, in moderation it’s not a horrible thing. It’s when one gets to the obsessive levels that worry is necessary.

So what can you do about escapism? I don’t know. I’m no doctor, no therapist. I can tell you what I do. Most of the time? Nothing. As long as my playing doesn’t interrupt my real life, I let it happen. As soon as something does get to the point where it starts interfering, though, I get rid of it. Either of my own will or asking someone else to make it disappear from my life. Assuming I’ve noticed. I don’t always.

So it goes. If you think someone you know may be an obsessive escapist, talk to them about it. It may even be worth a trip to the doctor. Escapism is often a sign of a deeper underlying problem. I imagine if you fix the problem, you’ll probably fix the habit.