Reading is weird. Our eyes stare at a piece of paper with different lines and curves that create these symbols that we are able to interpret. Then we put these symbols together and we are able to make these concepts and scenarios in our head. These concepts are able to contort our emotions, making us angry, sad, or laugh. They can lift our spirits or even dull our mood.
If you read daily, you understand the insane emotional commitment that comes with opening a book. The characters are real people to you, their world is a real place you can go when you need an escape. Even though their story has already been written, you root for the characters. You want them to take a certain path or make a certain decision.
When you leave their world or finish their story, it stays with you. You're not quite ready to let that world go and jump into another. It captured your mind so intently that leaving feels a little bit like moving into a new house. Your old house was so comfortable and homey that you didn't really want to leave, but you knew it was time to. Your new house is empty and vast, you're not sure yet where you will put everything, but you know that it has potential.
Sometimes when you finish a book, picking up another book just isn't appealing at all. Meeting new characters and ingraining yourself in their world just doesn't feel right. This isn't the book you just finished, this isn't the world you just left. You want to go back. Sometimes you wish could start over and reread that book you just finished. You want to forget the whole story so you can read it again and be just as shocked, surprised, thrilled, angry, or relieved as you were the first time. You can't ever experience that again, no matter how hard you try. The first read is always the best read. We call being unable to read another book because the last one was so great, a book hangover.
Readers, you also understand why it is so amazing to have a friend who reads. It's a different bond, it's a bond that stretches over many different worlds and situations. When you finish a book, there are so many things you need to rant about. You disagree with a decision, you hate a character, you think a certain part could be misunderstood. There is an entire community of readers, and even though most of us have never met, we already share a bond over the books we've read.
To the people who don't read: You are missing out on worlds that will blow your mind and take you to whole different levels of passion and anger and misery and happiness. Plus, there are so many factors of reading that are mentally stimulating and help you become more intelligent.
Reading is something that I always set aside time for. Even on my busiest days, I read at least a chapter. I read while I eat, I read before I go to bed, I read when I first wake up, and if I have an empty day, I read all day long. Reading is more than a hobby, it's a passion.
