It is worth wondering about how life would be if we could get a break from the way this world works. There are moments when the weight of our work presses so heavily upon one’s shoulders that the mere thought of escape feels like salvation. In a world ruled by expectations, routines and silent struggles, the human soul often finds itself yearning, not for more, but for an escape to an alternate realm that is untouched by judgment or duty, where dreams are not deferred but lived, where freedom isn’t earned but given. You might ask: is this desire for escape an act of cowardice or is it simply the need of a
moment for you to actually live. Perhaps it is both.

The thought of escaping to another world sounds like a dream come true. Running away from this life where we are bound by rules and regulations, we have to listen but never speak, do what we are told. Everyone wants perfection, sometimes not even realising that living up to their expectations breaks us down. You and I must agree to the fact that being up to the mark is a pressure we are bound to feel, if we never mention it through words, it is always visible in our actions. But imagine that on a random Tuesday you end up finding a door, like Coraline, a door that leads you to a parallel universe, another realm. You walk through it only to return to your room, your room but more welcoming, more delightful. Yes, the other world.

How would life be in a world where you and I have the power to shape our lives, do what we wish and as we wish. Run away from the people and the rules of this world. Escape like coraline. How impeccable would life be if every time this world overwhelms you, you see the passage, the escape to your dreams. It does sound awfully tremendous. Living freely, with no set ways of living life, your family with buttoned eyes, but you are always loved. The other mother never scolds you, the other father sings for you and of course your other friends never disagree on what you say. The idea of a life with no academic pressures, no one to expect something from you and no financial worries makes us all yearn for an escape.

The other world has your house but every room feels warmer, the rooms glow differently unlike they do in this world. Your bed feels perfectly warm, as if waiting for you to dive into your slumber. The rooms do not haunt you, the walls don’t feel like they are caging you. When you enter a room you can not help but recall a beautiful memory from it, even if in the real world entering these rooms felt suffocating. Walking out of your house feels like entering a new realm when you are met by an ever lush garden where moonlilies glow faintly, the lotus dancing along the wind. The flowers bloom every time you pass them to greet you just like they did for Coraline. You feel welcomed and warm. The mirrors show you the best version of yourself, the version you wish to be and not the one your family, your friends or the world expects you to be, thinking of this, one can not help but smile.

It does sound wonderful, but could it be that the initial thought of another world being dream-like had simply planted love for it in your mind? Why don’t we realize that even in the world we live in, we can be who we want to be and live the life our hearts wish for. It might sound unusual but the rules and regulations that we consider caging are the very escape for us to live freely. You set your own rules and you think your own thoughts. You don’t need new lands. You need a new mindset that sees your worth and your right to work up to your expectations and not others.

Coraline did not change who she was, she changed her perspective of this world. Yes, her mothers scolding and her father giving her work was found a distress by her, but she stopped considering it as a burden, for the other world that she considered a dream made her realize how fortunate she was to have a mother who corrected her when she was wrong, a father who loved her and friends who despite being far away would do anything for her.

“We suffer more in imagination than in reality,” said Seneca, his words are the reality about the idea of the other world. Imagination has no harm but indulging in it to the extent that you stray away from your path in this world does. When you indulge in the pleasure of the other world, this world keeps moving, the clocks keep ticking and the days continue to change. Any ordinary person like you or me wouldn’t care about the real world, who would want to give up on the world of our dreams, one we wished for
our entire lives. However, without discipline our lives would be shallow. You would sleep at whatever time you like, three am or 4 pm, and at first it would feel like freedom until you start to see the effect. When you wake up feeling dead inside, your days start blending into a tired blur. You start to lose your sense of purpose when no one expects anything from you. Even your effort begins to feel meaningless.

The scrumptious meals that you devoured in the other world would feel delightful for a day, a week, possibly even a month but after that nothing would ever truly satisfy you. Every single thing would excite you for a second but bore you the next. Without the worry of school and homework you feel no pressure at first but eventually you become forgetful, your thoughts go foggy and your memories slip away. You wish to do something in life, you fail because you don’t know how to learn anymore. In the end, you feel lost, nothing feels real and your true self starts to fade. Your spark begins to wither and the other world swallows you-not through buttons or claws like it did for Coraline but through pleasure and entertainment.

Alas, not everything we wish for is a dream, sometimes it is a nightmare cloaked in the
brightest shimmer. While the idea of the other world and the initial experience do
sound like something worth experiencing, they truly are not. As life on the other world
unfolds, so does the reality. This world, its pressures, worries and rules are truly what
make us who we are.
Escaping isn’t always the solution, sometimes you need time and sometimes you need
courage to determine your rules but what you need most is discipline.