There's one thing you should know about me- I love reading. As a child, and even now, when I get into a book I enjoy, I can't put it down. Reading helps me escape when I'm stressed; it fills me with knowledge and experiences that I may never be physically able to do. As an English Major it's pretty much all I do: read countless books and countless pages to write more papers that someone else will read. But through all that time spent reading and writing, I've had a lightbulb moment.

Reading influences me subconsciously- a great deal more than I realize. Reading influences everyone more than they understand. When you read, it can either expand your mind or hurt it, and recently I feel like so many people read things that discommode them, in turn influencing them negatively. Lately, in my Literary Criticism class, we've been reading through feminist writings and man, after I finish each section I have to take a step back. Some paint out men to be these awful suppressive beings that just want to keep us locked up in a room, where others are encouraging women to write about women, which is the only way a woman can honestly be scripted. (((Also, I'm not a feminist, but I believe women should have equal rights as men in most areas of life. Our jobs, our pay, what we do and how we live our lives. But I don't believe in burning bras and as a Christian woman believe that men are the leaders of the household as ordained by God in Scripture[Gensis 3:16-17]- anyways back to my point.))) I have to step back and put my lens of a Christian woman on and say, these are valid points and these are not. When I don't, I want to take up arms (or pens) against men- and that's not even my real feelings about these issues!

If you haven't noticed already with some of my previous posts, I'm not a huge fan of social media. Partially because instead of it being good news, it seems it's antagonistic, hurtful and harmful- a toxic substance that tends to burn you down instead of building you up. Scrolling through post after post about how bad the president is, how awful our school systems are, how Millenials are the worst and that the United States is going to hell in a handbasket just discourage and dishearten me.

Reading puts thoughts and ideas into your head that you don't create intentionally. Growing up, we are taught to read everything, but eventually, there becomes a line that YOU have to draw with yourself. Is reading this truly going to make me into a better person or inform me? Or is it meaningless drama that I keep going back to? Be careful and purposeful in what you read, and I promise you'll see a difference. If you are reading something that you feel is beneficiary to your education or will make you knowledgeable about a subject, make sure you're reading it through YOUR worldview lens, not the writers.

"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it."- Oscar Wilde