To escape to other worlds, is to escape from reality. To travel to fantastical worlds is one of the best things about books. Even if they’re based in reality, everything about them can change the way we see it. How everything is interpreted and also, how when we’re finished, we see the world afterwards.
Books have always been one of my escapes into another world, another life. Living through the characters you’re reading about can influence and change you in more ways than you thought. Seeing something that could never be in real life; dragons, wyverns, hippogriffs and much more are always a great thing to read about, to think of.
The darkness of the world replaced with light, pulsating from the pages, brightening with each word you read. Letting go of the worries, strife’s and tests people face on a daily basis whether they be in the form of illness, disability, depression, anxiety – there is one thing that is guaranteed from the pages of a book. You’re always welcomed into their world where prejudice against you is forgotten about and you, the readers, can finally have a place to be yourself and influence others.
Thousands upon thousands of stories are lifelines for people, giving people the ability to become more confident, unbound by social and ecological restraints that can separate people from one another. The feeling of freedom that can be felt is more than anyone could ever think possible, there is nothing that a book cannot do.
For me, books have become a way of escapism. When I am tired of the world around me, when I feel like everything is against me or other people I know, I dive into a book and immerse myself within their worlds, their words. Identifying myself within them through characters and dialogue. Since I was 11, I have always had a book with me wherever I went. And now, at 23, everything about my appreciation of books has only soared past expectations and allowed me to branch out and read new material that I never would have before.
Books are a necessity for so many people. Including me.