I'm a Holden

My eczema flared up. Well, it's an excuse to blog since I can't write and plan on my notebook for a paper I have to write.

I'm trying to have a more positive outlook so that it'll help lessen my depression. Mmm... I'll talk about my favorite book: The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.

I've read plenty of books over and over but that's because I had to for summer reading. The Catcher in the Rye is the only book (so far) I can read multiple times because of how much I love it. I can relate to it so much and all the hidden internal meanings to Holden's thoughts. I can see myself in Holden in various parts of the book. I forgot about what goes on in the novel because it's been a few years since I've read it. But I will never forget the feeling I had after reading the ending. You can look up the summary of the book on the internet OR you can take the time to read and see what kind of meaning the story gives you.

Now, the protagonist of the novel, Holden, he's a pretty blunt and obnoxious guy. Some of the stuff he thinks about is pretty true. But most of that comes from his thoughts. People still talk to him and you don't really hear many people hating on him (Well from what I vaguely remember). See, I have thoughts that are similar to his and I bet everyone out there has those similar thoughts at some point in their lives. We're human. It's not like we're all perfect angels that never sinned before. Anyway, it's just me trying to say that Holden is someone we can all relate to.

I like how realistic he is with his thoughts without sugar coating it. One thing about me is that I really don't like people that are really optimistic. It's really annoying. And by "really optimistic", I mean people that are so naive and oblivious to how life really works. I'm not saying that optimism is annoying or that it should be ignored because I really do think that people (especially me) should have some optimism in life. It's just that if you think too positively on things, you can't really understand how some things in life go on because you can only see it through one perspective. Life can't always be happy. You need to know pessimism in order to know optimism and vise versa. Whenever something bad happens, I try to remember that I can't cherish the good moments if I'm always living in good times. I don't want to get used to feeling happy because I would eventually see it as something that's not special. If I didn't go through the difficulties of something, I wouldn't know how to cherish and appreciate it. I'd always be taking advantage of it and it wouldn't be meaningful to me.

There's plenty of quotes in this book I can probably have separate posts for but I'll just talk about a few that stand out to me:

"I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice."
Have you ever been that person that gets excited about something you like and you can't stop feeling happy and passionate about it? It's a really nice feeling. Just talking about it makes you feel really happy on the inside and you start smiling a lot while talking about it. Or have you ever been the other person that listens to the one getting excited about something? Seeing that person's face all happy makes you feel happy. Knowing that the person is sharing this innocent feeling with you is a really genuine and personal moment. It's those times when you can feel your connection with the other person getting closer.

"That's the whole trouble. When you're feeling very depressed, you can't even think."

I can relate to this. God knows how much I can relate to this. When I fall into a depression episode, my mind goes blank. It doesn't mean that I can't think about anything. I just can't think rationally. If I can't think rationally, I only see the negative side of every situation I'm in at the moment and I start isolating myself from people. During those times of depression, everything feels as if the world is falling in my hands and I have no control of it. Then I panic and anxiety rushes over me.

Ok, I thought that this post would positive because The Catcher in the Rye is my favorite book but it turned into thought-provoking post. Oh well, it is what it is. I actually like how this turned out anyway.