WHY I READ

The purpose of this blog is two-fold.

1. I cannot tell a lie, I have not been feeling super inspired the past couple of weeks 😂 I’m dried up, I’ve got nothing. The cure I’ve found for moments like that is to choose topics I’m passionate about to expound upon. And we all know how I feel about reading 😉

2. In a world filled with online dating profiles, I often feel my summation of myself is a little…lacking. When stacked up against people who love to travel the world, seek out constant adventures, or actively pursue the outdoors? Listing my favorite hobbies as reading, crocheting, and hanging with my family leaves me appearing as boring as I really am 😂 So, this is my attempt to plead my case. To prove that I can be more than just a stick in the mud.

Who am I trying to prove that to? I don’t know. As has already been mentioned, I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel over here.

Maybe, as is often the case, the Lord and I are trying to make a point to myself. That I am worthy of love, just the way I am, bookworm and elderly hobbies and all 😉

So, without further ado: WHY I READ

It Was Inescapable

My love of all things literary is, indeed, an inherited trait. My grandmother and I both share the parallel memory of losing a fire we were tasked with tending because we got lost in the pages of a book 😬

From generations past, the need to devour books whole has been handed down from parent to child, creating a chain of people who own far too many bookshelves.

A love of reading runs in my veins, and I am so grateful for it.

Books Are My Friends

Perhaps because we moved a lot when I was young, perhaps because of the seasons many have where we feel a little more lonely than we’d like, perhaps because books rarely let you down. Pick whatever reason you’d like from the ones posted above, but books have become some of my very favorites friends.

It astounds me, the intimate relationship one can develop with characters in a book. We know their innermost thoughts and feelings, allowing us to feel like we really get them, and they really get us. And even years later, when we return to the pages of a beloved tale, the friends we once knew are still there, waiting for us. In a life that has sometimes felt tumultuous, my fictional friends have been a constant.

It’s An Escape

Alright, let’s be real, life stinks sometimes. It can be the worst, right? And what’s one of the best ways to forget about life when it is it’s smelliest? That’s right, books.

Reading allows us to be someone else for a minute, to carry someone else’s problems while we set our own ones to rest. It gives us the space to breathe, to relax, and the maybe even remember that life can be really, really good.

It’s Made Me a Better Person

As stated earlier, one of my favorite things about collecting books like a dragon collects gold is the ability to connect to a character. We all have those characters that are just like us, and it’s comforting to be represented on a page. To be reminded that we are not alone.

However, it is equally as cool to relate to a character who is nothing like you. Fictional characters that I don’t understand at first have led me to be much more open-minded, more compassionate, more patient. It may not seem possible, but my literary friends really have altered and changed my perspective on things. They each leave a little imprint on who I am, leaving me better than they found me.

Research, duh.

My brother often inquires what book I am currently inhaling (because he’s a good brother who takes an interest in his sister), and then doesn’t laugh when I state that it is yet, another, clean romance. Why is that? Again, because he’s kind, but also, because there is a reasoning behind my madness: Research.

I write clean romance, so to sharpen my abilities and better my craft, I should be consuming as much of the same material as possible, right? Right 😉 It’s for sure not just because it one of my favorite genres.

Reading Saved Me

I truly believe this passion and interest is something that my Savior and Heavey Father have gifted me with because I needed it. They knew how much I would need my love of reading.

Whether it is a distraction from trying to decide a major in college, a relief from the pain of my first real heartbreak, support when we moved somewhere new in the middle of a pandemic, a place to rest when my mental health is residing somewhere in the trenches, a friend when I feel desperately alone, a small glimmer of hope that maybe love really does exist somewhere out there, or inspiration to pursue a career I really love. Reading has saved me. For real, for real.

I feel it is a tool my Savior and Heavenly Father have used to remind me of Their love. Reading has been there when I’ve needed it most. I’m not sure who I would be without my love of reading.

I don’t know that this post did the best to make me look more fun to a potential suitor, but, that wasn’t the point, anyway 😂 It was fun, it made me smile, and it really did remind me that my Savior and Heavenly Father love me, just as I am. Which, was the point. Is always the point. So, I’m calling that a win 😉