I learned at an early age about the beauty of books. Especially as an only child, I had plenty of time to read and get lost in my own realities. It wasn’t until later in life that I realized how extremely blessed I was to have grown up with books. They truly helped me grow and shaped me into the woman I am today. It saddens me to see this generation push books away as some antique and archaic pastime. I believe that books are vital to a healthy and balanced life. I hope that one of these days, people will start to realize the beauty that they are missing out on by not allowing books into their lives.

They open up a world of opportunity!

The moment you open a book, you are immediately transported to another world. You are not only in your own reality, but have endless opportunities to grow and expand your horizons. Whether it is a fantasy or nonfiction, you will finish the book a different person. It is incredible the amount that I have learned about, or been exposed to because of books. Even from a young age, I can remember loving to read because they opened my mind to new ideas that I would have never learned about otherwise.

They are an escape from reality.

You escape from all the responsibilities and stresses of your everyday life with each turn of a page. Whatever was going on in your world before you opened that book are gone. Now you are somewhere in time and space travelling with the doctor, or riding alongside Abraham Lincoln and his rivals in their fight for the presidency. The beauty of books is that they are gateways. Gateways to separate realities, worlds, and times. For 300 pages, you are not yourself, living some mundane and dull life; you are an adventurer, experiencing things you could only dream of with no worry about how much time is left on the laundry!

You will never run out of options.

Whether you like sci-fi or historical novels, there are countless options out there! They are just waiting on you to find them so they can work their magic. With libraries, and the huge variety of eBooks, you will never run out of things to read. If you are like me, you buy books then take months to read them…all while buying new ones to add to the list. Although this may lead to a constant search for bookshelves, it means that you will never run out of reading material!

Reading has countless benefits

No matter what you want to do, there is a high chance that reading will benefit you in your endeavors. Whether you are a political science major, or a business major you will gain insight in your field to help further your studies. As a political science major, I appreciate reading political theory and strategy books outside of class. They not only help me understand what we learn in my field, but also it gives me a deeper background into what I have learned that I would not otherwise have.

They help mold us into better people

It doesn’t matter if you are 9 or 99, there is at least one book that has influenced your life. I am sure as you are reading this, that book has already come to mind. This book either helped you through a challenging time, or taught you something about yourself. I always turned to a book when I needed a friend, or a guide during a difficult time in my life. Books have this beautiful power to always be exactly what you need. You can interpret the same passage different ways each time you read it depending on where you are in your life. And that is what I love about books!! No one reads the same book the same way. Everyone can gain something new from a book every time you read it. So never stop reading! This is the most important lesson that I have learned. The day you stop reading is the day you close yourself off to new ideas and experiences. No matter how busy life gets, always find time to read. Whether it is a newspaper article, or a novel. As long as you are reading, you are still changing and growing as a person. That is the most beautiful gift that books can give us, and it would be a shame if we took it for granted.