I am a proud book nerd, and that is just fine.

My love affair with books began at a young age, it was an easy way to escape from the real world and live in one where anything could happen. I traveled through worlds with swashbuckling pirates, I helped out with Cinderella's daily chores, and I flowed down the Mississippi on a raft with Huck and Jim.

I believe George R. R. Martin said it best when he wrote "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one".

Since my childhood adventures with the Magic Tree House and the mice of Redwall, I have only grown to love books more and more. My library card had to be changed because of how worn out the bar code had become in my constant swiping while checking out a new book. My Goodreads account currently has more books that I wish to read than I have actually listed as completed.

I don't even want to begin to calculate the total amount of money I have spent on books in my lifetime, because I'm sure that if I did I would shock even myself.

This love of books has drawn me to pursue a career where books will always be a part of my life. No, I do not wish to teach English, though there is nothing wrong with those who do. But if I had a dollar for ever time I got a condescending look after I say that I am studying English in college, I could have paid for my education.

Careers that involve books are often looked at as less than what others are doing with their lives. Many assume that because us literature nerds don't want to become doctors or lawyers then that means we must want to work at Starbucks for the rest of our lives.

What these people don't understand is that the education I have received from books is far greater than anything else I have ever been taught. Books teach you about history, about love, about loss, and about the world. I understand how to see other points of view besides your own, because while you are reading, you are entering someone else's life. You see what they see and you believe what they believe.

Books provided me with a happiness I couldn't find anywhere else in the world. Math and science classes often forced me to shed a tear because I just couldn't get it while I was constantly told that I need to in order to become successful. While history classes were interesting to me, they were nothing compared to the rush I felt when I was handed a new book to read.

Everyday I choose to be a proud book nerd because it makes me happy. I would rather choose a life of less traditional success and more happiness than a life of more traditional success and less happiness. I would choose everyday to pursue my love of books as a career than to constantly try to force myself into a career that would make me unhappy and constantly stressed out.

I am happy with my nose constantly burried in a book, and I will never be sorry for that.