Reading and breathing.
“I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity”
Every writer started with reading. But what did the first writer of the first book read? People and experience perhaps. The need to pen down and lay bare; the need to tell yours/another’s story. When you read a person’s work or piece, you just got a piece of their soul. And that’s exhilarating for those appreciative in nature.
Reading puts you in a different realm. Traveling can almost be replaced by it. In your little space, with a book or a gadget in hand, you can get lost in time, travel to places, experience cultures, lifestyle, cry, laugh, sigh and every other emotion you can think of. Words and sentences that get forever etched in your brain. Fictional characters you end up loving or despising.
I started reading as early as when I could form words. Lantern books did it for me. They published books that were easy to read and understand. Images and pictures were also drawn that captured the story told. As I grew older, I saved every Naira I got in my piggy bank. Opening day was always glorious because I spent all I saved on books. I’d walk and run to Grace bookshop. I bargained and bought as many books as I could. The excitement would soon die down because I usually finished reading them in a few days and then left again with saving and waiting.
Books are the best treasure you could give to me.
When I’m asked for the gift I want, I’ll always say books. Words have always carried me and put me into the world the writer have created. Then with time, I developed an insatiable hunger to express, to give back and let others reap the fruit of the hundreds of book seeds sown in me. I wrote a thing at the age of 8. I still laugh anytime I remember the content of that book.
I continued to write, though I didn’t write any “book” again. I expressed my thoughts via social media. I conversed with likeminded individuals. I shared and borrowed books. And the fire of the old passion started burning more fiercely than ever before. I wanted to write! The more I breathed, the more I burnt. Basic combustion principle!
With the help and encouragement of friends, I published my first article on medium. The responses I got were uplifting. The feeling that you aren’t alone in your thoughts, was empowering and motivating. It gave me all the gear I needed.
One book can change your life
Books relieve the mental struggle you might have with your environment. By reading, you’d realize how unoriginal people are. The struggles, joy, sadness are all the same. All experienced all over the globe and that gives you unimaginable strength.
Although I can’t give credit of my book-loving life to a single book, it’d rather be to a culmination of many books. Many writers that have inspired me to, no matter the circumstance, tell my story. It’s the most powerful thing in the world. I hope to continue.
