Irrational Avoidance

As most of you probably know, in addition to being a high school student, I am a psychologist. This blog post is my official report on a new psychological . . . thing that I've been studying for quite some time.

Irrational avoidance is the process of avoiding someone or something irrationally. That's the definition, of course, but in the precise mathematical sciences like psychology, a definition usually isn't enough, so here are a few examples.

In my freshman religion class, Mrs. Lauck told me to talk to Mr. Striby about my service hours. It was a perfectly kind and helpful thing for her to say, but I didn't go. Why not? Irrational avoidance. I probably should have talked to Mr. Striby, but I was either scared of him or intimidated by him -- two of the main causes of irrational avoidance. In the end, I was one service hour short, which could have been prevented.

You know what, though? I probably still got well over 110 percent in that class, and it wasn't a big deal. Irrational avoidance can become a big deal, however, when people reserve judgments about the people or things they avoid. Here's an example of that.

As a child, I was completely sure that I hated the taste of grapes. I never tried them, but I hated them, and that made absolutely no sense at all. Then, one day, I tried a grape, and it really wasn't that bad. It was pretty good. Better than an apple, in fact. Irrational avoidance prolonged the era of my life when I was never able to enjoy the splendor of grapes.

Why do I say all of this right after Max wrote my favorite series of books and movies with an asterisk as if it were an obscene word and declined his invitation to join the TPA Book Club? I don't really have any motives. No link between the two ideas at all. Nope.

But, I mean, speaking of Harry Potter . . .

I think I'm going to wear something similar when I go to the premiere tomorrow/Friday. Just kidding.

Max, the world has a lot of emotions at this time -- with the last Harry Potter movie coming out, it's a sad and reflective time for a lot of people. But let me tell you one thing I wrote on my German blog post entitled "Harry Potter wird nie enden!"¹ I said, "Meine Kindheit könnte zu Ende gehen, aber Harry Potter wird nicht."²

By the time of my next post, I'll have seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

¹"Harry Potter will never end!"
²"My childhood may come to an end, but Harry Potter will not."