How Reading Has Affected My Life
What comes to mind when you think of books? New worlds? Hundreds of words put together so beautifully, they don’t seem like just text anymore? Do they seem boring? Do they make you fall asleep? Whichever may be the case, there is no denying the transformation of a person once they grow familiar with the fragrance of books. Because once you gaze into a world that mere words on pages brought to life, you can never look back.
Reading impacted my life in many more ways than I would have expected it to. It has helped me become the person I am today. It has enlarged my world, allowed me to travel to faraway lands, taught me to dream and to imagine. And along with all these simple, beautiful things, it also had so much more to teach me. Books, I would say, are impeccable teachers – infinite knowledge, and always there when you need them. Vocabulary, good grammar, communication skills, and, what I value the most, useful random facts, are what I gained from every single page I read. For example, a book about time travel can teach you science while simultaneously triggering the imaginative and creative parts of your brain.
My journey with books began when I was around 6 years old. I had been encouraged to read them previously, but what caught my eye first was an illustration. I remember very clearly that it was the cover page of a graphic novel. I wasn’t able to read and understand it by myself at that age, but that one book is what led me to explore more. It doesn’t matter what type of book a person is drawn to; it could be a graphic novel, a picture book, or a comic and it wouldn’t, in the slightest, affect the development of a reading habit.
In my 9 years of life among books, there is another thing I have realized: there is no age for beginning. You could start at any point of your life, because it is never too late. Not every story starts with a teenager or a toddler, many of them feature much older and just as interesting protagonists. The impacts of reading are quite clearly visible. It influences the way I write, the way I speak, and is the very essence of everything I am.
What I am trying to convey through this personal anecdote is that reading does affect your life. It helps mold a child, it helps an adult grow and have fun. It's not all coffee and rain. It is cold nights and “just one more chapter.”It is libraries and the way old books smell.It is a way of life—an extremely colorful and wondrous way of living.
But perhaps, sitting down with a book is not your way of exploring and you might be looking for an alternative . I would recommend audiobooks . Audiobooks are just as fun and beautiful as their physical counterparts. The trick to switching to them from physical books is to start with your favourite books and finding the right app for yourself. My personal experience with audiobooks has been concise but still wonderful . It is peaceful and certainly more stimulating .
So, if you have ever been drawn towards a book, go ahead.Pick it up, sit down in silence, and flick the pages open, because it will change your life in ways you would never expect it to. It will render you speechless because not everything can be put into words, especially not the feelings you experience when you dive into a story.Those worlds exist now, exist in your mind, and you can travel there whenever you want to; All you will have to do is open your eyes and read the pages, or close your eyes and dream of them again.
Never been drawn to a book? Visit libraries, browse comic books, listen to snippets and scenes of an audiobook, and one day you might just suddenly find yourself sitting on a cold bench surrounded by books, their tales the only thing keeping you warm in the sweater weather.
The ability to read and imagine whole new worlds lies within you, hidden away in a vault. All you need to do is find the right book, to fit it like a key, and change your life like I did mine. To sum it up, reading is an art, it's a habit, a new way of life and it can positively affect your life. It can help you stay a child at heart, and at the same time grow you up into a wiser person. All it takes is a little believing, and a little faith. So, are you ready to dive in?
