"What do you like to do for fun?"

"Oh, I really like to read."

"Oh...I hate reading, you do it voluntarily?!"

I can't tell you how many times I have been a part of this exchange. For some reason, people can't fathom the idea of reading for enjoyment. It's an activity that has been linked for so long to academia that many people have shut themselves off to the idea that it can actually be enjoyable.

For me, however, I can't imagine my life without books. Reading has impacted my life immensely-- it's pretty much the best thing ever.

It's an escape.

When you're reading you can go anywhere in the world. Whenever life was hard, stressful or sad, I would turn to books to take me somewhere else. While I was with Harry conquering Voldemort, my problems didn't exist. I wasn't even myself anymore, I was someone entirely different, which was exactly what I needed.

Let's be honest, don't we all wish we could be someone else sometimes? That's what reading did for me. I was someone new, somewhere far far away from reality.

It's relaxing.

As soon as I pick up a book I am overcome by intense relaxation. My mind doesn't need to worry about anything. All I have to do in that moment is read the worlds on the page and immerse myself in the story. There's no room for stress or anxiety when Jane Eyre is busy building a life for herself against all odds or when the Baudelaire children are fighting to survive Count Olaf's mischief.

There is a sense of existing in another universe, while also feeling like I don't exist at all. Everything in the world feels like it stops while I'm reading, only the life in the book goes on--everything else is frozen in time.

It's relatable.

No matter who you are, what you've been through, your likes and dislikes or anything else--there is a book out there that you can relate to. It's like magic. Usually, I'll pick up a book when I'm going through a hard time and I'll find my personal problems being explained in the book when I least expect it. Suddenly I'm not the one struggling to do well in school or fighting with their parents or feeling lonely; the character is, and they are overcoming whatever obstacles are in their way. Suddenly, I'm not alone anymore. Suddenly, I feel like I actually CAN get through my struggles.

Every book I read feels like it's been written for me and only me.

Reading isn't for everyone. Some people hate it, and that's fine. But for those of us who are lifelong lovers of books, they will always be there. My favorite characters feel like dear friends, their trials feel like my trials, their lives are somehow ingrained as a part of my life.

Reading is more than just picking up a book and making sense of the words inside. Reading is immersing yourself in the life of someone else and entering a world entirely different from one's own.

Reading is my favorite thing in the world. It's a way of life.