I’ll be honest my friends, I forgot about writing a post this week. I spent this whole weekend painting my living room and rearranging it afterwards. It has gone from an awful beige to a lovely grey blue. Because I forgot about this post, I don’t have the notes I need about my latest read to give a proper review and I don’t want to just slap one together “real quick”. I feel like I owe it to anyone who reads this blog to get a proper review.
That being said, I do intend to post a blog post each week and so that’s why I’m here and that got me to thinking about why it is I started this blog and that of course led to the question “why do I read?” and then I decided I’d just sort of, vomit some words here and see if it resonates with others, because it’s quite the question isn’t it? That was a very long run-on sentence and my high school English teacher would probably be disappointed in me (I was generally a good student).
So why do I read?
I think one of the most common reasons you might find is a pretty easy answer. I read to escape. It’s a pretty easy answer but with, in my opinion, some complex thoughts behind it. There are different reasons for wanting to escape. Sometimes, I want to escape from this world and what is happening in it. This is especially true in areas that I cannot control.
With the world in its current state, how could I not want to escape on a daily basis? I also sometimes need to escape from myself. I am quite often in my own mind too often. I have a constant stream of thought and sometimes that leads to thoughts that are not helpful and help to cause anxiety (my favorite). As others who deal with anxiety know, it is so difficult to reset your thoughts and steer them into a more positive direction. There are many methods out there to help with this but sometimes, the comfort of a familiar story, or a loved world is the most effective way to leave those thoughts behind. I am instead, filled with the sound of the narrator and the images that my mind creates to bring the story to life.
That brings another question though, why did I read when I was younger? I had yet, at that point, experienced the “once in a generation” events that have transpired over my lifetime so far (I’m only in my 30’s). I was also too young to really care too much about others at that point and my anxiety had yet to manifest into the creature it is today. So why did I read?
It’s honestly a bit difficult to pinpoint the reason for my love of reading as a child. I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I loved reading fun adventures that seemed impossible. I also loved reading about love (probably for some reason that I should tell my nonexistent therapist but hey…I’ve got a blog). It was just a sense of pure joy when I would open a book and jump into these magical realms and sometimes I wish I would have that joy more often. I don’t always want to read to escape.
And I won’t.
I do still read for joy and sometimes I read for this blog and sometimes I read to escape. The thing is, whatever the reason for reading, I’m just glad that I found something that I love. Even better if it can help me escape and is something I enjoy. Doubly so if it’s something I can share and enjoy with other people.
So that begs the question:
Why do you read?
Reading with teafortiffany 
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