12 Invaluable Life Lessons We Learnt From Stephen King Novels

7. Sometimes, Change Isn't Always A Good Thing - Misery

You know, there are two types of people in the world today. There are those who are slow to change, devoid of innovation and resist changing either because they're lazy, too stubborn or quite frankly, they're afraid. Then there is the other type of person: the one who wants to get rid of practises because they are more than five years old, to simply have to change. Anything new is better, even though it's unproven; just the fact alone that it is novel and popular in some way gives it enough accreditation that it should be implemented right away. I've worked with both types of people before. I can tell you that the best way to introduce change is gradually, keeping an open mind out for the possibility that perhaps the older way was better because it was proven to be effective; or perhaps the newer way is simply more efficient and after limited, initial implementation testing and observation, has shown itself to be the better way. And that brings us to Annie Wilkes and Paul Sheldon; both are examples of the two types of personalities above. Annie locked in the escapism of her romance-filled world of Misery Chastain, and Paul suddenly wanting to break free of that world and start a novel completely and diametrically opposite to it. When the two perspectives clash, well, Paul is without a foot, a thumb and now has a drinking problem and at least some form of PTSD. Annie, of course, loses her life, but after we learn what type of person she is, obviously this isn't going to cause too many tears. Still, the lesson is made abundantly clear: change isn't always a good thing.