What 'Game of Thrones' Means to Me

Back in 2011 before the first season of Game of Thrones hit our screens, I was in a very dark place. I’d split up with my first serious boyfriend, I felt insecure, had no self-confidence, was riddled with anxiety and depression, had to drop out of my nursing degree, and kept sinking lower and lower.

I tried everything to bring myself out of it. The usual post-breakup haircut that women seem to get, I lost weight (not really through trying and more through being too depressed to eat), went to my GP, got put on Citalopram, started going to mindfulness classes, nothing was really helping though.

Then a friend of mine asked if I’d be watching Game of Thrones—it was due to start soon. I’d heard it was starting and was in two minds as to whether to watch it or not. When the night came for the first episode, she came to mine and encouraged me to watch it. It was amazing. For that hour, it was as though everything that was going on in my life, didn't matter, didn't exist. I was fully immersed in the Game of Thrones world and I loved it. It became the thing that got me from one week to another, it was the thing I would animatedly talk about to others as soon as I found out they watched it too!

By the time the season ended, it was as though a fog had lifted from me. I still had problems with anxiety and low mood at times. It wasn’t as though they had magically disappeared from April to June, but compared to how low I had been, there had been a marked shift for the better.

That hour every week was sheer escapism. My mind was allowed to enter into this new world of Westeros and get completely lost in it and for an hour completely forget about my life.

It sparked the start of me truly being able to move on from everything, the start of my true recovery.

Every year since the first season, I have eagerly awaited each new season with bated breath. That feeling of excitement and complete escapism hasn’t dulled any since the first season.

I have also since read the books and love seeing what the series do in comparison to the books.

Thankfully, my depression has completely cleared now and my anxiety is at a much more manageable level.

While I know this isn’t solely down to Game of Thrones, I do credit it with allowing me to find something that finally allowed me to escape from the horror of my life completely for that hour every week.

With the final season coming to an end this Sunday, I think I will truly feel bereft, the season seems to be flying in so fast, it seems no time at all since it started and now next week, we will all ultimately know who is going to be sat on the Iron Throne!

I will always say that Game of Thrones was the catalyst I needed in order to spark my journey back to good mental health.

Thank you, Game of Thrones, for coming along when you did! You saved me from myself!