As a child, the sight of a book would make me sick. I was one of the kids to be bribed to read books or locked in my room at night to finish my assigned chapters. I would sit there and pout. I despised reading and the thought of reading. I didn’t want to take any English classes or do the summer reading assignments. My summer was ruined– I would think as I sat in my room struggling to get down two pages. I simply could not make it down the page without having my mind travel elsewhere. That was an ADHD thing where focusing was hard, so why would I want to read if it was such a challenge?
My mom is the bookworm of the family; she sits in her corner and reads for hours. I used to make faces at her; until one day, she told me to try a book with a story that I liked. Guess what I said– No. On the other hand, My dad only reads specific authors like JD Robb, and the only reason I knew this is that her name was always in big shiny letters on the cover. I later found out that they were all crime books. He told me a few stories that may have hooked my interest.Â
English teachers had their options for book assignments, some of which I liked and some I did not. I still struggled to finish the assigned chapters of the ones I liked. However, there were times that I found myself smiling at the words on the page as my eyes began to glue to the page. Then I made it to the end of the book after weeks and said I never wanted to read books again.Â
One summer, my mom told me to try the “Twilight” series. My response was, Yes, I will totally watch the movies, but that is not what she meant. She dropped off four heavy books in front of me, and I cringed inside, so she took away three and left me with the first. I picked it up and started to do the thing I hated the most. By the end of the summer, I was asking to leave the pool early, so I could go home and read my vampire romance book. That was the first time I knew that books could help me escape.
Escaping reality was a need at the time of all the high school drama. I relied on movies and tv shows to distract me from the world of immature kids. It was like I forgot how in love I was with the “Twilight” book while I cruised through popular tv shows. I didn’t pick up another book until I came to college when the escape was even more necessary.Â
College is said to be the best time of your life, and it truly can be. It’s when you have the most freedom and a lot of time (if you manage your workload well) and when you find out who you truly are. Finding out who I was surprised me when I found myself buying books from a unique bookstore and bringing them down to the river to race through one hundred pages a day. What I didn’t realize is that I did enjoy having the time to go down there for hours and get lost in a whole other universe. It was literally a breath of fresh air. For those few hours, I got to escape my life and be a part of someone else’s story. If you are intrigued, it’ll eat you whole and leave you wondering and questioning for days. Those are the best kinds of books– the books that make you feel something.Â
Sometimes, I do struggle to stay focused, but if I find the right book, the perfect escape, the challenge is so worth it, and in no time, I’ll find myself flying through. Those simple stacks of paper with a million words can help you learn and find out what you like. They help you get away and take breaks when your life needs them. Books make you live a thousand lives, not just one. Stories teach, consume, dream, wonder, and help people for the better. ​​In those moments, you get lost between the lines and forget about everything that’s holding you down. You get entangled in a story that lives within the pages. A story that saves you in those hours of reading. It’s a gift.Â
“Books are uniquely portable magic.”
-Stephen King