Everyone has something that they are passionate about. Whether video games, sports, art, or even gardening are your interests that brings peace into your life when you feel like everything else is falling apart. My “thing” is reading because it brings me happiness and feeds into my introverted side.
But it has not always been that way, though. There was a point when a teacher said I would never be able to read or something along those lines. I was not paying attention during that point in my life ( I was like 6 or 7, who pays attention at that age anyway). But anyway, once I got into reading and stopped fighting my parents, who made me read every day every summer for one hour. Once I just decided to give in. I found out that I loved it and that this whole world is out there in which it is made just for one and can be shared amongst groups after reading the book. In this world, you don’t need a charger or a remote. The only way this world could be broken is if it got lost or wet, and even then, you could find a way to finish that story. Plus, when someone in your family puts on sports or home makeover shows, The thing you can turn to is books, because it’s like television in your head that is made for one person to hold in their hands.
I found characters I could relate to, like Ty Blackthorn from The Shadowhunter Universe, Mal from Descendants, Hermonie Granger, and Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. As well as characters who frustrated me just like bullies during public school did, like Professor Umbridge from Harry Potter or President Snow from The Hunger Games. So from there, it just grew and grew into this thing where I wanted to show myself in writing and express myself on the pages of a book. While I have not gotten to being published in books, I have gotten pretty close, though.
Through fiction and the authors I grew up on, I got the chance to laugh, cry, and realize how ridiculous a character could be. Life is not always the easiest thing in the world. But one pretty easy thing is picking up a book and flipping the pages. Reading books is also said to help with anxiety, which is a real thing in life. It centers the mind to focus on one thing and block out the surroundings, the rate of breathing slows, and you get into a peaceful mindset.
So if you are either fighting your parents on doing that summer reading, don’t, or if you have recently become disconnected from your love of reading. Pick that book back up and start again. Because if nobody made me read for an hour each day during the summer, then I could be in a completely different major, and that is a thought that scares me somewhat. But I owe that to my parents and teachers, who made reading books and literature possible to become my thing in life. You must have been practicing!