Same, but Different
Jessie: In New Hampshire where the weather is swinging about wildly enough to give one whiplash!
Here, where the winter weather puts me in mind of an endurance race I am constantly drawn to things that bring comfort to offset what is going on outside. There are the things that are universal fixes like cozy slippers for feet and hearty stews for dinner. But there are other things that seem to do the trick for me as well. While novelty is certainly something I enjoy in my life, in winter, when the nights are long and the forecasts are almost never correct I turn again and again to familiar things I know that I already enjoy.
The things I choose don’t have to be exactly what I already know, although I am not opposed to rereading a book or rewatching a television series. Familiarity takes the form of a tweak to a family favorite recipe, a slight variation on a knitting pattern I have already enjoyed making, or a book I somehow missed in a favorite series. I move the furniture around in the living room.
It also involves doing some of the same things in different places or with different tools. I moved my lap desk to the library recently and filled it with new stationery supplies. I still will write letters to loved ones, I just will be taking in a different view as I do so. I am using my favorite pens, but I have filled them with inks I haven’t tried before. I love to wear my old stand-by scarves but I enjoy tying them in new ways.
Even the podcasts I listen to or the playlists I choose on Tidal or Spotify seem to follow the pattern. I look for new historical or true crime podcasts from the same companies. I seek out playlists of music that feature artists I love along with others that are like them, but new to me.
I don’t think I am alone in this tendency. After all, readers are constantly in search of books that are in the same genre, but that tell a different story. Mysteries, especially those in a series, are particularly good at the same but different. I know I love that in the books I read as well as the series that I write. It is so comforting to visit characters and locations in favorite series when the wind whistles round the house and the snow piles up in the driveway.
Readers, do you love things that are the same but different? Which kinds?
