Mental health wise, my depression probably would’ve spiraled out of hand if it wasn’t for books.
I’ve found that books are a good indicator of my current state. The more stressed, depressed, and deprived I am, the more I read and tune everything else into white noise. Whenever I don’t want to live, or encounter something that compromises me in some way, I think something along the lines of “at least I have my books.” I genuinely don’t find life worth living without literature.
I know that books are commonly used as coping mechanisms, or escapes, but I can’t help but feel that my dependence on books is on the somewhat more extreme end. Given how I tend to read pretty deprived, melodramatic books, this coping mechanism may actually be a large reason on why I read so much in the first place. It’s probably not even healthy, this dependence.
Anyone else use reading in a similar/different way?
by eyedrops2