Ever since I can remember, I have strongly disliked reading. I can’t sit for more than five minutes with a book in my hand, reading the words on a page. My mind is always elsewhere. “What am I going to have for dinner? I hope that I do something fun this weekend. Why is this book so long?” I also can’t forget about having zero time to read. Who else has a million other things that they could be doing? That was always my excuse: I was too busy to read. In reality, those were always just excuses. They were always ways to avoid reading at all costs. Why did I hate reading so much?

Do you remember when we were in school and our teachers would always make us read the most boring books out there? Then, to make matters worse, they’d make us read them at home. “Read chapters one through five tonight!” Don’t you get that we have other homework and lives to live? This has always left a bad taste in my mouth. I never enjoyed it and thought that I never would.

During my first semester of my junior year, I had to take a class called Literature for Young Adults. On the syllabus, it stated we had to read a book per week. It's safe to say that I was freaking out. That sounded nearly impossible. Plus, I hated reading. This wasn’t going to end well.

That first week of class, I rushed over to the library and picked up a book by Nicholas Sparks and spent about an hour reading. I got through a lot of it and told myself, “This isn’t going to be so bad.” We even got free reign to pick any book that we wanted, which made it a lot more enjoyable.

Over the next few weeks, I was a reading machine. I was so excited to find a new book to read through and see what amazing stories are out there. I started finishing books in two days! I was so amazed at myself and astonished by how much I was enjoying reading.

There is always enough time in the day to sit down and read a few chapters of a book. It may not seem like it, but the time is there if you take away the hours that you spend watching TV or surfing the web. Use those hours to sit down and read. I know that when I read, I escape all of the stress that built up through the day. It’s like jumping into a new world and getting to explore your characters' lives.

Reading is not for everyone, but some of us don’t give it a chance. If you find a book that you love, it will take care of itself. During my journey to becoming a reader, I read some awesome books. If you want to get started, check out my recommendations!

1. “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn

2. “The Manhattan Hunt Club” by John Saul

3. “I’ll Give You The Sun” by Jandy Nelson

4. “Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls” by Lynn Weingarten

5. “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd

6. “Nights in Rodanthe” by Nicholas Sparks

Reading is such a great pastime. Not only does it fill you with knowledge, but it can relieve stress and expand your vocabulary. I know that Twitter doesn’t stimulate my brain as well as a good book. We get many benefits from reading and we do not even realize it. Give it a shot. Turn off your TV, log off of Twitter, and get to reading!

“The more you read, the more things you know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss