Louie Ahl

Rory Gilmore from the 2000’s sitcom Gilmore Girls is queen bee of romanticism. Living in Stars Hollow, Connecticut, she has the drive and ambition to make it into Harvard, be involved with the community, and maintain a relationship with her crush(es). During the early season especially, she is idolized by viewers of the show for her work ethic and commitment to school. Her level of dedication is often admired, inspiring people to follow in her footsteps—but what exactly is romanticism, and how does one apply it to life?
Junior Ara Ratchford defines romanticism as “finding happiness in the little moments, finding what’s important to you” in everyday life.
Romanticism is often seen as an escape method—a way to make one’s life easier. Whether that means listening to music while you clean your room or lighting a candle while you study, finding joy in little mundane tasks isn’t terribly difficult; if anything, it’s one of the easiest ways to make your life more enjoyable.
“We only get one life, everything that you want to try, you just have to go do it because you might lose the opportunity,” Ratchford said.
However, there are two sides to the coin. Some view romanticism as a disingenuous facade that people put up to push away difficulties in life. It’s tempting to throw all your troubles away and only focus on the good, but that isn’t realistic or healthy. It’s important to see all sides of life, good and bad, and decide what to do with your life experiences. Senior Ella Veo puts it perfectly.
“I think that every experience is valuable. Because I think every experience shapes us as people and helps create who we are in terms of personality, in terms of things we enjoy, who we want to be,” Veo said.
All situations in life—positive and negative—shape who we are as individuals. This isn’t to undermine or invalidate hard times people have gone through; this is to remind everyone that something can always be learned or taken away from an experience. It’s not a bad idea to reminisce on recent experiences and see how it has affected the people involved, but it’s also important to not get stuck. Don’t stay in the past when the present moment is happening. It’s common to miss out on opportunities and good times if we’re caught up in what could’ve been. Learn from what happened, and let it shape you into a better person.
“From my life experiences, I hope to be more confident in who I am as a person and understand where I’m going,” Veo said.
Now what makes a life experience valuable? Some would say that, if it left a positive impact, that it has value, but even bad experiences can have value. Hardships can be frustrating, agonizing, and depressing, but afterwards, people bloom. There is nothing more glorious than recovering from a hard situation, and without the rough time, you may have never grown. That being said, continue to allow the flow of emotion. Life has proven that every bad patch will pass. Even within the haze of romanticization, not everything immediately contains a lesson.
In general, romanticizing life is a thing of good. When taken to the extreme, it can become blinding to reality, but in moderation, it makes breezing through life much easier. Chose to romanticize! Light a candle, read a fantasy novel, curl up with your cat and take a break from the exhausting world.
Senior Haylee Gray sums it up like this: “The world can feel like a really dark place. You listen to the news, you immerse yourself in pop culture, it can be a really depressing thing. Life is uncertain, the world is uncertain, and humanity seems to fail us a lot. I think people romanticize their lives to take the load off themselves.”