When we are young, we begin our education with a series of images, compacted into pages, and placed in binding with one or two words on each page. Within this binding is a world of creativity and color, images meant to spark a sense of curiosity and connection to the outside world. As we grow older, the images become fewer and fewer as the words increase. These later books meant to cater to our desire to learn and grow more knowledgeable. But certain books will not only feed our adult minds, but they will also cater to our young minds. Cater to the creativity and curiosity that we slowly lose as more numbers get added to our age.

It is important that the older we get, attaching ourselves to technology and mindless activities, that we remind ourselves to focus on enriching our minds. Not specifically in an academic setting, where we are forced to memorize facts or resuscitate information, but in a setting that allows us to take our time, and fully embrace what the world has to offer. Not only that, but ponder what we have to offer the world.

For me, I find myself in a constant rotation of emotional distance and emotional connection. The difference is usually between my daily activities, whether or not I'm staring at a screen or staring at a piece of paper. It is in the moments where I am caught up in a story, where hours pass and I'm unaware of how much time has gone by, that I find myself not mentally drained, but mentally exhilarated. It allows for the expansion of my mind, and a break from my own world or a way to a deeper connection to it. For a very long time, I forgot that. I forgot what it was like to get lost in a book, or lost in writing, and not remember how my thought process got from point A to point B.

It allows for an escape. An escape from reality, from the natural world. It also allows for a deeper connection. Through reading, through writing, we can create or read scenarios or situations we may never have encountered before. It brings us closer to topics we may never have encountered, or never experienced. It allows us to exist in a world we may know nothing about, but only brings us closer to the people in it. It allows for an expansion of the mind, body, and society, and I believe it truly allows for a deeper emotional and creative connection to our inner selves.