Investing feelings in the imaginary

I love TV shows.  So many different shows.  Some of my big obsessions are Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, Doctor Who, Silicon Valley, The Office, etc.  After the kids go to bed, if I'm not gaming, I'm immersing myself in one show or another.  I tend to lose myself in them, lose all track of where I am, what I was doing beforehand, and time.  I throw my feelings into these shows so completely that when I come back to real life, I'm left with a hangover so to speak.  

Tonight I got that from two separate shows.  I won't say what happened as I hate spoilers, but man, I really feel hollow hours later.  How silly is this?  I do this with really exceptional movies and very much so with books.  I read The Fault in Our Stars and from about half way through the book, I ugly-cried the rest of the way through.  For a day or two I had puffy eyes and I was just at a loss.  I knew it wouldn't end well, but I can't help myself, I simply get lost in a good story.  I can tell when I find something amusing but not touching...I don't feel anything afterward.  If a story is well told and a character gives me some emotion to invest in, I am hooked.

I wonder how many other people do that.  Take for example The Office...I love this show.  Probably more than I should.  When Jim told Pam that he loved her for the first time and got rejected, I cried along with him.  When Jim asked Pam out on a date and she accepted, I felt that excitement too.  I know it's so silly, but I just can't help it.  I invest myself in the imaginary.  

I think this is why I have such a hard time sitting down to actually write the book I want to write.  I am worried that I'm going to write something that no one will feel like I do.  That people will read it and they won't feel the emotions in it...they won't get hooked on the characters like I already am in my mind.  Am I ridiculous in this?  I know people get stuck on books like this, but is this why it's so hard to write it? I don't know for sure, but it's making sense to me.  I have two different stories I want to write and both of them seem to give me trouble translating them from my head to the paper.  I need to get over it already.  I have time before I start school again, I really need to get going on it.  I don't know if I'll finish before school start, but I won't finish if I don't start.

Sorry, I know this post isn't very interesting.  I just noticed how I was feeling after these shows tonight and thought maybe writing about it would make me feel better. My show hangover is a mighty one.