I had forgotten what a relief it was to read.

To experience firsthand the emotions of all your favorite characters, to revel in their successes and regret in their failures.

To be transported into their world and all the while being secured in your own, knowing that after all, everything’s just make believe.

It has incited my curiosity and quelled many of my anxieties and whisked me away to a world where my problems don’t exist. And I know that all the while, when I decide to put down my book and return home, they will be met with a much more receptive attitude thanks to the experience. It has also made me think of my own life as a story, and I’ve wondered whether it would be one worth reading. I’d like to make sure it is. Sure, most people think those who spend their lives buried in books don’t have much of a one to begin with, but I think it’s just the opposite.

We get to live our own lives while also peering in on others and, like I said, make sure that real life lives up to or even surpasses their fictional ones, as we have the advantage of drawing insight and wisdom from theirs. And when things start to lag in the real world, there are always plenty of other ones to enjoy and if done in moderation, escape to. Authors have created whole societies and even universes that are all meant to be taken in. And while I know this passtime can soak up a lot of time, I think all in all it makes the sum experience of living much higher. So why don’t more of us read often?

In this everchanging fast paced world it can be hard to slow down enough to realize, remember even, the beauty and simplicity of reading. There are times in my life when I remember reading brought me so much peace, and though I’ve sought to find that same feeling elsewhere, I couldn’t for the life of me recall that all I had to do was pick up a book.

Which book, might you ask?

This is the first problem and deterrent readers encounter.

Sure, you like reading but amidst the whole inventory of the world it can be hard to narrow it down to one. Or maybe you’re like me and you hoard many different varieties of them in your closet just in case the day should ever arise that you feel the sudden and uncharacteristic urge to read a murder mystery.

In any case, the problem still stems from a lack of knowing, or finding, what you want. And to this, I honestly don’t know what to tell you. Maybe the trick lies in sticking it out a few chapters (don’t be like me who literally reads half of the first page before deciding whether or not to chuck it). Maybe you need to peruse the aisles a little bit longer, or maybe you need the advice of an expert like school librarian Chelsea Hamilton. Whatever the case may be, don’t be discouraged and don’t stop until you find your book.

I think everyone has “the one.” Like many things, it’s just a matter of finding it.

Maybe it isn’t even as specific as just one. There are plenty of dynamic books that will parallel with at least some part of your life. After all, we live entire days and nights and all the storybook characters are pages. There are so many moving parts to your life, so much story building just under the surface, that this is sure to be mirrored by one book or another an appreciable amount.

This is where the magic happens: when you find a book or a character that personifies your own struggles and brings them to life with a perspective you hadn’t thought of before. Funnily enough, it allows you to rewrite your life, your story. No longer do you feel alone or stuck in the same mode of thought, as you know that someone else out there has endured the same feelings enough to write a whole book about it and you can reimagine it all through the story they’ve written.

Maybe you don’t think you relate to anything I’m saying, but I’m sure this isn’t true. We all watch enough TV, aren’t there any shows that you can watch over and over again because they remind you of some far off place in the recesses of your mind? Any characters you feel you embody? Some fantasy world brought to screen that you find yourself seeking refuge in on cloudy days?

If this is the case, and I’m sure it is, then you can find the same thing to a much greater degree in a well-selected book. I promise it’ll be well worth it.