Why Reading is the Best Habit you can ever develop?

 

Reading for me is like Breathing. I can’t live without it and need it more on the days I reach certain heights. I inhale it deeply on days I want to calm my inner thoughts and exhale slowly on days I want calmness around me. Reading for me is a continuous process. On days when I am not reading the ink on paper, I am scrolling through articles on the web, or captions on posts. On some days I read people, their actions & gestures. Somedays, I even try to read about nature, leaves & flowers, insects & birds, rains & storms, it just never stops.

And when I read this much, without an end, I often forget when my personality merges with the characters, how I melt into grieving characters or humans, and how I dance around in happiness with them. Sometimes late at night I often wonder- ‘Who Am I’, Am I an amalgamation of tens of thousands of people and characters I have read over the years or am I a complete individual personality like no other ever? And then I think about how much similar I am to others and how much I stand out. That thought assures me of safety like a cocoon. There are so many people & characters written by people who have gone through grief like me, and there are even more people who have experienced the peak of happiness like me. And that sense of belonging, unity, and awareness of being a Human can not be surpassed by anything.

It might feel like you are alone in this, but you never are. It might feel like you don’t belong, but you always do. It might feel like this is the end, but it might be a new beginning. It might feel like no one gets you, but so many do. It might feel like you don’t need anyone, but you always do.

Being an avid reader for the past several years, I realized just recently how much I have developed, grown, and matured over time; yes this is a biological fact, but I am talking about my psychological and mental growth. How books have been my ultimate guide, through all that life gave me; be it good moments or challenges in different fields. If books were a person, I might have daily assured them of my love, I might have said-“I love you” and given a good night kiss, and I might have asked for their opinion, suggestions, and advice. But even if it's not a person, I almost do the same. I admire the cover, flip through pages with a sense of relief, smell them, reread, and note down those quotes that hit me hard and read them in times of despair.

Some changes were big and visible- like my vocabulary, intellect, knowledge of historical events, change in opinions, or my connection with the present outer world; but some changes were so gradual and big, that they went on in the category of ‘just a side effect of adulthood’. Today, I want to mention those changes; and yes life is also responsible for them, but the bigger credit goes to words, paras, lines, characters, personalities, pain, joy, resilience, forgiveness, kindness, and hope I read in my books, 

Compassion- Books taught me to feel the pain of other people also. While reading a book; just those words can make my eyes water, just realizing what a cool, happy person can hold deep within his heart, what can break a strong person like a sand castle; I learned about human emotions and started understanding people from different POVs.

Patience- This is the biggest gift I got from books, my arrogance, rage issues, and frustration; everything just vanished. I sit between two fighting people and don’t say a single word until asked. The calmness I hold, the patience which was visible in my actions was like a cool wind of summer noon in my heart, and this only I know and can feel.

Forgiveness- I was never a person to hold a grudge. Time is the best healer and this applies so perfectly in my case. But over time, instead of avoiding the person who hurt me, I started facing them and just forgiving them for what they did. That forgiveness provides much more peace to me than it can ever reach them.

Confidence- I live on my terms, without disrespecting or degrading someone else’s. I say what I feel, ask for what I want, give my opinion, and try my best not to accept the wrong (but on that, I still have to work, being a girl in an Indian family stretches this part)

Listener- I am a loquacious person, I always have something to tell, and as much as this habit is joyful; sometimes I tend to ignore what other person is saying over what I have to say. But over time I learned to listen, I became a good listener as well and when you do hear people, you understand them, and observe them and that makes the relations smooth as butter.

What big changes, have books brought in your life?