BY MARIA VAN WOERDEN

Unwritten Expectations

I’ve learned that the pressure of this world is too strong. Going into high school brought on too many expectations that I couldn’t meet. With all these pressures, I was feeling trapped and I needed a way to escape.

That’s when I really found my passion for books.

Teresa Mummert once wrote,“Reading was my only escape from reality. Through books, I could be whoever I wanted.” This quote began to ring true in my life; I started to find it a relief to spend time in a world that wasn’t my own. I began to feel this reassuring peace that swept over me every time I entered a book.

Taking Hold

It’s as if everything around me gets put on pause while I get lost among the words within each chapter. Especially in my first years of high school, there were constantly negative things going on around me, so to help me get a better grasp on life, I began to read which helped me block out the reality around me.

I believe fiction goes much deeper than just ink on paper.

Certain stories help me discover who I am and to find friendship while in dark places.

I’ve experienced adventures others haven’t through the Harry Potter series and while reading the entire Mortal Instruments series, I learned more about the meaning of sacrifice and loss. Although it seems unexpected, the Hunger Games taught me to stand up for what is right and to seek justice in the world around me.

Out of This World

All these books have created in me a yearning for a deeper knowledge. They help me to define who I am and guide me with who I want to be. I believe reading a book has the ability to change me; change how I think, what I say and how I act.

At times reading is better than the life I am living in, so it gives me a break as I escape the world I am so often trapped in.

Within a book I can be whoever I want, and I can go wherever I chose. Books have helped me find my true self at the darkest of times. I believe within every book I can live in a world that helps me escape the troubling reality from this all too surreal society.