Kayla Tracey

Guest Columnist

Life is a mess, and that is the reality that we live in. However, that knowledge doesn’t help us cope with all the ways that our lives are not going how we have planned.

None of our lives are perfect… and this is the part where if we were talking face to face you’d say  “okay it’s not like I don’t already know that, what’s your point.”  Well, my point is that life sucks, but you can do something about it.

This is when all the ideas will run through your head about how you can cope with everything happening in your life, so go ahead take your time because I’m not going anywhere.

Everyone will think about different things because we are all different and we all deal with life differently. Maybe your thought to cope is “I can make things better by inspiring change.”

That’s a great goal but it is not easy to define what will actually change the world. But no matter how horrible the world gets there is a way to escape, and it has nothing to do with trying to change the world. It instead has everything to do with books.

Books? Seriously?

Yeah, Seriously.

Books are amazing because they can transport you to a multitude of different countries, worlds, realities, and much more.

Want to visit Narnia? Crawl through a wardrobe. Want to live like royalty become Princess Jasmine, or little Scout Finch? The sky’s the limit.

Books can transport you anywhere. When you open a book, you can instantly be consumed by the ink on the pages. Suddenly, the world disappears, and you can escape the lousy reality that you leave behind.

Not all of us are going to find interest in the same books. For me, I love seeing other worlds and problems presented in fiction and fantasy. While they’re trying to save the world from some mythical being set on destroying it, I become distracted from the problems in my life that pale in comparison.

But I know plenty of people that don’t like the type of books I read, even friends of mine have told me they aren’t interested in what I read. And I just brush off their comments. Other people don’t have to like them because I do. All that matters is that  they help and interest me. 

It’s cool if books aren’t your thing. I still urge you to try and find something that interests you. 

It only takes that one book to  help change your life. And if you try and try and try and still can’t find a book that interests you, find what does interest you. It can be an instrument, a sport, or anything else.

As long as it brings you joy and makes you forget about what has you down it does its job. Because if you have a productive way to deal with and get through the viciousness of life maybe life won’t seem as miserable. When life sucks, find what makes you happy.

For me, I read.