Know Your Go-To: The Power of Comfort Shows

*updated August, 2025

True fall weather is coming in cool (and wet, and cloudy) tomorrow, so while I am a bit sad to put the heat of summer behind us, it does prime the pump for full blown Gilmore girls season to start!

Know Your Go-To’s

I am of the age to have watched Gilmore girls when ​I had to remember to set the VCR to record it.

I liked the show enough back then, but wouldn’t say I was a super fan or anything. I liked seeing a bookish girl navigate life. Someone who was a bit like me.

Long brown hair. Growing up in a small town. Avid reader. Introverted.

And bonus points, I used to live in the real Connecticut town that Stars Hollow shares a zip code with.

So when it came back to Netflix in 2014 and the revival in 2016, it reignited those familiar feelings of comfort and I’ve been rewatching ever since.

And there are science backed reasons why we fall back in love with rewatching our favorite shows.

“Immersion in this familiar fictional world restores self-control. Supplementary analyses suggest that it is the social nature of this familiar fictional world that contributes to restoration.” source

But it can be so much more than that!

The added benefit of loving a show in the age of the internet is that it can welcome you into the world of fandom. Where others love something as much as you do. And can bond strangers near and far and be a real boost to your Connection Glow as you share inside jokes, plot throwbacks and favorite scenes.

Connection Glow is about cultivating relationships — with people, community, and the world — that nourish instead of deplete you. They make you feel supported and fuel your confidence to try new things. With a strong sense of Connection Glow, you feel held, emotionally fed, and reminded you’re navigating life alone.

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Curious about the different ways you can support your 9 types of Glow? Discover how to know and grow your glow with the Glow Foundations Course.

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Through Instagram rabbit holes, I ended up following several Gilmore girls fan accounts. And through commenting and messaging about our shared comfort show, I’ve connected with a group of several women across the world and found ourselves in a group chat as we found more Gilmore loving gals. In a time where it can feel like a challenge to find and keep a hobby, I’m incredibly appreciative that I stumbled into making this love of a show into a hobby and finding new friends. I share more in this UpJourney article about finding a hobby as an adult.

Years since we connected over our love of Gilmore girls (and what they wore), our group chat is still lively. Our group chat is full of real world Gilmore inspired sightings, quotes... and sometimes, showing up for each other in real-life ways. (Love you ladies!)

Know Yourself

Do you have a favorite show? It doesn’t have to be something you watch now. Maybe it’s something you watched in college, or binged on maternity leave or during COVID. Spend a moment and ask yourself, ‘what is my favorite show?’ What about it keeps drawing you back into it, makes it feel like a comfy place to visit from your couch after one of those days?

The power of story can teach us so much. Whether is binge-watching or suffering from a book hangover, it can help reveal what we are working through in our inner lives, where we are needing rest or desiring a stronger sense of direction.

Notice what draws you in most about the show.

Is it the characters, the setting, the plot, the time of life that you watched it originally? Has it changed over the years? Why?

So many things can factor in and it’s a fun sort of place to get curious and notice these things about yourself.

To help you know yourself better, get a little curious about what makes your favorites, your favorites. TV shows, books, songs, movies, whatever strikes a chord with you.

Have you ever dipped a toe into connecting with it on a deeper level or with other fan-atics?

• Trivia nights near you or online

• Theme parties (or nights in)

• FanFiction (my favorite authors here, here, here, here)

• Fan inspired creations​

• Clothes worn by your favorite characters

If you have a show that truly brings you a sense of comfort, dork out a little and bring it into your daily life beyond the couch. Buy a themed mug. Blast the theme song or soundtrack. Send gifs from the show to your group chat. Light a candle inspired by the show. Some may call it weird, but is there really any better way to live?

In a world that is full of division and far too many streaming options, it feels good to find some creative ways to connect in a way that warms your heart.

I’m super curious, have you ever thought of making friends or starting a hobby this way? I’d love to know what your favorite re-watch shows are!​ Leave a comment or send me a DM on Instagram.

*post may contain affiliate links

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Stephanie Rose is the creator of Firefly Scout and the Glow Map, a framework for self-trust and emotional clarity.

She helps deep-feeling, soul-led humans notice and name the invisible patterns draining their energy — so they can restore their glow, reconnect with their intuition, and live in sustainable alignment with their truth.

Her work blends Human Design, storytelling, and intuitive strategy into a grounded, magical experience that meets people where they are — especially in the busy middle of their real lives.

Discover how to reclaim your energy, your rhythm, and your right to live lit up from the inside out.  Sign up for her newsletter and check out her other free resources and start your journey today!

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