A Lost Love...

The creak of the spine, the smell of the pages, the thrill of the adventure woven within the paper. I used to read 3 books per week. In fact, whenever someone asks me what my favourite hobby is, I still respond with “reading.” And that is not a lie. Nothing makes me happier than cozying in with a good book. However, I regret to admit that I hardly do it anymore.

It all changed when I began University. While I am also a HUGE advocate for education (believe me, I love school more than the average person and always have…) something happened when the hustle of classes, exams, labs and essays took over my life. As a Humanities student, many of my classes consisted of reading 2-4 books per course. Although they were fascinating, I was exhausted. By the time I finished my assigned readings for the week, the last thing I wanted to do was pick up a book of my own. And if you know me…that is an unbelievable tragedy.

It was in my second year of University when my heart was aching to read again, but stress got the better of me. I decided to try something different. A new book was released that year - Milk & Honey by Rupi Kaur. It was a poetry book. Something I had never read before, and never thought I ever would. It was beautiful. It helped keep my spirits high at a time when I could not dedicate hours to getting lost in fairytale worlds.

I had gone four years without reading a novel. After crossing the graduation stage, I said to my family “I can finally read again!” …and read I did. I have now been done school for 8 months, and oh the worlds I have traveled to in the pages of my books. I feel alive again. Like I can conquer the world by simply flipping a few pages. But why did it take so long for me to get back to what I love most? I have made so many excuses : I should be focusing on school work, I should be working more hours, I am too tired, I am too stressed. But the reality is that you are never too busy to put yourself first. I will say this thousands of times on this site… but self love is NOT the same as being selfish. Life will always be there to get in the way of the things that matter most to you. You have to be the one to decide what you spend your time on because there is never going to be enough time…

For me, reading is happiness. It is being at peace with the world and the people in it. I get to be unapologetically me when I join the made-up worlds in the pages of my books and who could want anything else?

The creak of the spine, the smell of the pages, the thrill of the adventure woven within the paper. How I have missed you, old friend.