This week, I had been planning on writing an article about self-care, but then...

Well, but then Sherlock came back.

And it was simultaneously beautiful and apocalyptic, especially for those poor, brave souls trying to sail their various ships on the deep blue sea that is Tumblr. If you too are a weary survivor of the 2014-2017 hiatus, you'll probably understand how and why my original plans for this article were (a bit ironically) obliterated. I pretty much forgot how to human.

In the wake of three consecutive viewings of the episode, I sat in a darkened room for forty days and nights, bathing myself in my own tears and saturating my rotten carcass with coffee and Robertito's tacos. The only wretched illumination in this abysmal prison emanated from my fanfic-riddled laptop's multiple Tumblr tabs; the hollow blue light cast on the walls ever so evocative of the chilling depths to which I continue to voluntarily descend.

(Okay, so that was slightly hyperbolic. But just slightly.)

There's something about dealing with the problems of your favorite character rather than your own, isn't there? Something about escaping yourself and doing things right; neatly this time. It's like a fresh start. I imagine that's part of the reason why so many YA novels start with the protagonist moving to a new town. And these stories help you figure yourself out, I think. You determine what kind of person you want to be and what kind of habits you'll pursue.

I did eventually remember that the new year was, like, a thing and that I had written some resolutions. I looked around. The laundry hadn't been done. I hadn't been hydrating as much as I had planned on. And I hadn't even gotten started on this article, whoops.

But now I'm thinking about how blessed I am to have had this experience right at the beginning of the year because now I have the rest of it to do my very best with. Resolutions and ideas about who you want to be are fantastic, but the thing is: you do have to get up and live them.

Daniel Radcliffe said at one point,

“If you’re going to be obsessed with something, being obsessed with books or films is pretty good. Some people are obsessed with heroin.”

I love that quote. Dreaming about others' stories is a great "get-through" tactic for hard times. But these past few days have reminded me that, in the words of a very helpful character by the name of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore,

"it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."