You can ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that I’m definitely a die hard Harry Potter fan. I know just about everything there is to know about the series. Most people just view Harry Potter as seven books or eight movies but it’s SO much more than that. It helps show us how to handle many things that life might throw at us. From friendships to death of a loved one, it has almost anything you could think of. That is one of the many reasons why I love and cherish this series so much! It’s more than just magic, mystical creatures, and battles against Lord Voldemort.

1. We must always face our fears to move forward in life

An example of this is when Neville Longbottom comes out of nowhere in the Deathly Hallows Part 2 with the Sword of Gryffindor to kill Nagini. Doing so ended up helping Harry in the long run and even gave Neville the confidence to ask Luna Lovegood out. This helps us see that once we face our fears then we gain even more confidence than we had before! If you can face your biggest fears, then what’s stopping you from everything else in life?

2. We’re never truly alone

Sirius Black said it himself in the Prisoner of Azkaban, “The ones who love us never really leave us, you can always find them in here.” This helps us learn that even if we do feel alone, we never are because our loved ones will forever be in our hearts. Living or dead; they’re always with us.

3. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover

People in this day and age are often quick to judge another based solely on their appearance. The Harry Potter series teaches us this in the Prisoner of Azkaban using Sirius Black. Throughout this book/movie, Sirius is portrayed as a criminal because of what he was accused for in the past and his rugged appearance. By the end of it all, we see that this entire time he was good. We are also shown this with Severus Snape throughout the entire series because he if first seen as an enemy to Harry. In the Deathly Hallows, it is revealed that Snape truly loves Harry because of how much he loved Lily Potter.

4. Love is stronger than hatred

The love between Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger just grows stronger with everything that they are forced to face in their years at Hogwarts. This helps them conquer all of the hatred that comes from Voldemort and his death eaters. It teaches us that if we love instead of hate, then we can conquer the evil in this world.

5. Your friends can become your family

Harry Potter’s parents were murdered by Voldemort when he was merely one years old and then he was forced to live with the terrible Dursleys; meaning he never had a true family growing up. That was until he met Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, they all became the best of friends and all together a family. So even though you don’t feel like family with your own blood relatives, doesn’t mean you can’t find a family amongst your friends.

6. Your disability or illness doesn’t define you

In the Prisoner of Azkaban, we see Remus Lupin struggling with lycanthropy or the transformation of a person into a wolf. He eventually finds ways to deal with it and control it. This disease doesn’t define him as a person because he still continues to protect and help his friends and family. No matter the disease or illness that you have rather it’s anxiety, depression, or a physical deformity from birth; NEVER let this define you as a person or let it prevent you from following your dreams.

Rather it be the books or the movies, I hope that you are able to find the same life lessons I did if not even more. Harry Potter can truly be an inspiration to everyone!