learning to prioritise…or trying to anyway.

So.

for my course, I borrowed Gerald Corey’s Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy from the college library for my last essay. absolutely fascinating read. He basically takes one case study and shows how ten different approaches to psychotherapy would work with the person. If I ever wanted to know how varied and interesting psychotherapy is, well, that’s the book I need to buy!

We’re only allowed to borrow books for three weeks, so I had to take it back, and have re-borrowed it this year because I didn’t get a chance to finish reading it.

Anyway, for christmas, I had joked to Krys that if he really wanted to buy me a nice present, he could get me the book. It costs fifty euro and thirty six cents from the book depository – my favourite online retailers – and I told Krys I would gladly use his credit card. Asked why I wouldn’t buy it myself,

“Well”, I replied, “fifty euro is way more than I would ever pay for a book”

“And how much would you be willing to pay for it?” Krys asked.

“Between twenty and twenty-five would be more reasonable.” I said, hoping for a gift voucher at least…
Alas, I didn’t get either.

But seriously, fifty euro on one book? I’ve been burnt before. I have a whole shelve full of Lacan, Freud, Klein et al. I got some second hand, some were given to me and I bought others, but even then I’ve not gotten much mileage out of most of them. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret buying most of them, but I could probably have lived without some and just borrowed them from libraries. I suppose if I am serious  do manage to change careers, the books will be invaluable, but at the moment, I’m not willing to pay fifty effing euro on a book in year one of the course!

Anyhoo, that was the long and short of why I haven’t bought it yet.

 And then, last Saturday I was in the city and of course, the January sales are on, so I found myself (cough,cough) somehow or other in HMV, in the box set section, and there, in front of me, was the Lost DVD box set for only forty nine ninety nine! I mean, do you know how much the box set was two years ago? one hundred and eighty nine ninety nine pounds!! that’s nearly two hundred and thirty euro! I was down for weeks looking at that price.

So there I was, in HMV, boxset in hand heading for the till, reached into my handbag to get my purse when my hand knocked against the Gerald Corey book.

I had to smile. so fifty euro isn’t always the same amount, is it?

I always wonder what mechanicm makes us value one thing over another when they are exactly the same, and this is never more apparent than when a monetary value can be assigned to it.

Clearly the book, in the longer term, will end up being more valuable, and  will definitely pprovide me with more food for thought throughout the years. But this was Lost! I’m not saying it’s a great show or anything. in fact, after season two I lost interest and only started back midway through season five…but….Lost! absoluetly noo value other than entertainment, yet I was compelled to buy it.

Perhaps, I think, it was the space it took up in my mind. season five and six meant that I lived and breathed Lost. I played those bloody numbers in the lottery, I rooted for Kate and Sawyer. I fell in love with Jin and Sun…ahhh. the memories. When these characters come to life and you can connect with them, one cannot simply brush away those “experiences”. Not when they are written so well. there are book characters that have had the same profound effect on me and in a similar fasion, I am drawn again and again to the books, tto relive those moments of their “lives” and immerse myself in their worlds.

Humans are first and foremost social and relational creatures. We could not have evolved this far nor survived this long without our need for social interaction. and since our instinctual brain is still somewhere in a cave somewhere afraid of the dark, knowing that safetyis in numbers, we still have the ability to get so involved in fictitious characters that the lines of reality and fantasy become blurred.

Well, I didn’t buy the boxset in the end, but with HMV possibly closing down for good, this may be my last chance to get the boxset at a cheap price..

But don’t worry, I’ll get the Gerald Corey book too, just to balance things out.

And is I didn’t I’d never hear the end of it from Krys!