My Addiction

By: Hailey Bickel

Throughout my life, reading has been my utmost favorite hobby. Whether it is poetry, novels, or even playwrights, reading has always been one of my major priorities. I do not know what exactly got me into reading, but I remember when I was about seven, my parents made me have one-hour everyday of “quiet time”. During that time, I had no idea what to do, I would sit and by ten minutes already gone, I would be bored to death. One day, my step mom told me to read a book, and that is what started my own “bookworm syndrome”.

I have read a wide variety of books, from Harry Potter, to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and yes, even the Twilight series. I always read books for pleasure and I never thought it would affect me in any way. That was until I read both Speak and Go Ask Alice. Not only were they both well written, the books made it so that I would not read them through my eyes; I read them through my heart. They were emotionally frightening books to read, yet so beautiful. In Go Ask Alice, it is about a girl who moves in high school and deals with boyfriends, abuse, drugs, and even being homeless. Those events caused me to really think about my life and what I was going to do with it. I will always remember that book and how it made me feel. It made me realize how precious every moment of your life is. I realized then, that literature would affect my whole way of life, whether it is learning new things or even changing my beliefs, literature will always effect who I am.

Even though I may later be a high-class surgeon and I will not have time to go out with friends and party, I will always have time reading. Books have always helped me relax. Whenever I am upset or if I just cannot sleep, reading has always been the best medicine. When I go out of town, I usually bring a book with me as my bible. People may say that is weird, they may say I am crazy for reading so much, but I do not care. It is like saying that someone who goes on the internet for hours is crazy, I am just different and reading is my hobby. Because of my strong beliefs towards literature, I have always thought that reading is my religion, my medicine, myself, and I hope that it will stay that way my whole life no matter what comes towards me in the future.