BOOKS AS THERAPEUTIC TOOLS

By - Vanshita Sharma

2nd year , Sociology honours

Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author's words reverberating in your head." – Paul Auster, The Brooklyn Follies

I think that this quote perfectly describes what reading is for me. I think I’ve always relied on books to provide me comfort and to be relaxed. Books give me another world to look up to and to revive the emotions I face. Often times, I get devastated after finishing a book. I wonder if it is a book hangover, as some people might call it, or maybe I’m sad because I'm back to reality.

Being able to take a deep dive into someone else’s life makes me feel less anxious about my own. I think that is why I read books—to help escape the reality of my daily life. You know the feeling when you’re going through something and Taylor Swift already has a song about it, and then you try to

understand, How does this woman know exactly what I’m going through?

Yes, I feel the same while reading books. I prefer fiction more, as it takes me to a different world with characters that resonate so much with me on a personal level. As different research would suggest,reading actually helps you feel more relaxed and less stressed.

I started using reading as a coping mechanism during the lockdown period, when the world around me was going through a difficult time. Thus, reading became more effective because it helped me escape to a world where, in the end, the characters were happy, which in turn made me feel happy.

As an introverted person with social anxiety, I use books every day to avoid unnecessary

conversations and to actually relax in a large crowd of people. For someone who found it—and might still do—hard to find solace in people and confide in them, books revealed the answers to my questions without ever asking me for anything. Every book I read slowly made space in my head and

heart. Every character I read about had a trait that I could relate to and somehow equate to what was happening in my life. After a certain point, it became more like an obsession that I always had to have something to read. When I read, I could lose myself to the words in those books and forget about everything; let the plot and characters make their presence in my life and divert my attention from everything else. The books are fictional, but the voices of the characters and the portrayal of

their stories are very real to me. To this day, I know that if I don't have anyone to turn to, I will have my books waiting right there for me.

Some people run away from their problems; I read away from them. It's a good distraction or emotional outlet when I'm feeling anxious. To quote Jeanette Winterson,"Books and doors are the same thing. You open them, and you go through into another world."

Books, be it fiction, nonfiction, romance, thriller, or fantasy, give a reader a different reality to look at than their own.

Lastly,to quote F. SCOTT FITZGERALD , That is part of the beauty of all literature. You

discover that your longings are universal longings and that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong."

Comment down below what books mean to you and ,let us know what kind of reader you are ?