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Why Do We Read?

Our interactions with people and awareness of ourselves can certainly improve and this can be done by spending time with a book.

My relationship with myself has developed more than it ever has since I started my almost daily reading habit in early childhood.  I like to set aside time to engage with text in order to be okay with every molecule of what makes up who I am.  I feel an enormous improvement in my mood when I consider the text before me.  I am more able to ignore what can potentially smash me into countless bits.  Reading has helped me break down and piece together events that happened over the years as I make connections with characters.  Doing so allows me to profoundly analyze details little by little.

I understand people most when I read about them.

Reading is like my companion for a few hours; I can easily spend good quality solitary time.  I feel that my days are more fulfilled when I read and wonder about people.  My reading time is my time for peace.

Maybe it’s a cliché to say that reading is a way to heal but I would like to say that I feel so much relief from it.  I feel that my senses are sharper than they were before.  I feel more thankful due to reading.

Reading gives me more confidence about how I use my time and about what I think about things.  I feel more communicative when I read as this activity builds empathy and better help me to interpret people.  I tend to think about people more when I read something; I get to know people better when I do.  When I sift through my memories, I see clearly what has been done right and wrong by either me or others due to having intimately known others’ feelings and intentions in books.

Reading is like a quiet way to talk to myself.  I feel like I exercise my brain when I read particularly because I better remember information vividly and slowly take my time reviewing it.  Writing has allowed me to create a brand-new identity.  I may repeat the same things several times but when I do this, the experience I relive becomes less painful and like a story I tell objectively.  I have a more serene state of mind when writing becomes a part of my time.

Words are what I look over any time and rearrange.  They are like photos of me, and of people walking the opposite direction of me on the street, of people playing with their dogs at parks and so on.  I can observe transformations that people in the world go through from every relationship I make with a book.

Reading is my freedom and, hopefully, it is my happiness.

Debbie Chow