Most of us have experienced this. Sitting on our beds, our eyes glued to a laptop screen- it is the season finale of the show you’ve been been addicted to since it first premiered. This show has become your life since you first started watching it however long ago. You have a very strong opinion on each character, who should fall in love, who makes the show amazing versus who the show would be better without. You know all the plot twists, story-lines, and most likely have theories and predictions for the next season. The last episode of a season, or series as a whole, can be an incredibly heart-wrenching experience, especially for the avid TV show watcher. A lot is at stake in this episode, and in order for your well-being to be maintained, it needs to go in your favor.

Sadly, this has not always been the case. Maybe you could not quite wrap your head around Ross and Rachel’s complicated on-again off-again relationship in Friends that you began you experience anxiety. Perhaps the death of Matthew Shepard in Grey’s Anatomy put you into a prolonged depression, and for a short period of time were unable to find the purpose of life. Perhaps a part of you died when Carrie Bradshaw and her friends disappeared from your life for good after Sex and the City stopped airing. While watching Game of Thrones, maybe your body went into shock after the Red Wedding scene, when Rob Stark, the only goodhearted person on the series, was brutally murdered along with his mother, wife and unborn child. Whatever show you connect to and love, there is the familiar feeling of betrayal when the series does not work out in the way you wanted it to. It can be frustrating, maddening, and it doesn’t seem fair.

I tend to get emotionally attached to things very easily. I understand that book, movie, and television characters are fictitious, but I have to constantly remind myself of that. When entertainment has the captivating ability to make the characters seem real, exciting, or complex, it gives the watcher a sort of connection to the show. If the show goes on for multiple seasons, we can become devoted to these characters and the lives they live. I cried after not receiving my Hogwarts acceptance letter, and I still find myself sorting my friends and family into the houses, (I’m a Ravenclaw, if you were wondering.)I envy the friendships of the How I Met Your Mother cast, before reminding myself that they are not real. I wonder if Jon Snow and I would have gotten together if I lived in Winterfell, too.

If you become devoted, attached, or head over heels for people who were created by screenwriters or authors; you are not alone. Continue being a hard core fan. Re-read, re-watch, hang up posters in your room, and ask yourself “What would Hermione do?” Do not convince yourself that being ‘that person’ is something you should be ashamed of either. We are a country that loves entertainment, so be proud of your love for fiction and all of the wonderful story lines and worlds that have been created because of this genre.