Het Palrecha

Have you ever noticed that strange guilt that appears just as life starts becoming lighter? Maybe it happened after leaving a toxic friend group. Or ending a relationship that had become more exhausting than comforting. Perhaps it was after quitting a job that made every Sunday evening feel heavy. Or after finally setting boundaries with people who constantly expected more from you than they were willing to give.

There is a difference between occasionally escaping reality and emotionally depending on escape to function, although the shift between the two is often subtle. At first, fantasy feels like relief, a temporary place to rest from stress, loneliness, rejection, emotional exhaustion, or grief. The mind drifts somewhere softer because reality feels too loud, too painful, or too emotionally demanding to stay fully connected to all the time, and for a while that escape can genuinely feel comforting,

Everyone escapes reality sometimes. A student stares out of the classroom window imagining a different version of their life. Someone recovering from heartbreak watches the same series repeatedly because, for a while, it quiets everything they do not want to feel. A lonely person rehearses imaginary conversations before sleeping. Someone overwhelmed by life scrolls endlessly at night, not because they are interested anymore, but because silence feels heavier.