“He that loves reading has everything within his reach.” ~William Godwin

It is inevitable that we will encounter challenges as we walk through life. These challenges can come in many different forms, and each is unique to the individual. Although we all face hardship, what differentiates us is the manner in which we respond to these unwelcome interruptions. Everyone has a different way of responding or coping during hard times. There is no one size fits all when it comes to coping, but what I have learned is that there are healthy coping mechanisms and then there are things we turn to that prove to be less beneficial for our wellbeing. For this reason, to kick off my 3-article series on healthy coping mechanisms I will introduce one of my favorite healthy coping skills in this article; reading. Yup, that’s it, sitting down and reading a book. This simple but tremendously effective activity has been shown to help us understand our own experiences. 

Reading is magical. It’s an intimate back and forth between us, the readers, and the fictional characters in the story. This beautiful passing of time allows us to dive into a world that is not our own, taking a moment away from reality and allowing us to experience a life vastly different from our own. A renowned writer of fantasy once stated “ a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, the man who never reads lives only one.” 

Although it requires time and energy, reading provides satisfaction akin to other forms of entertainment and sometimes at a greater level. This is because reading is a gradual process where we are not just given all of the facts up front in a short amount of time. Instead, reading is a journey, where along the way, the many questions raised about the characters, the situation, and the outcome, are all eventually answered. 

In addition to the magical experience of being transported to different times and lives, there are immeasurable benefits to the healing power of reading a well-told story. I will never forget the moment I made the conscious decision to pick up a book rather than my phone. My family was having a really hard day, and for so long, my way of dealing with the stress and anxiety had been to lose myself in my phone until I reached another dead end, escaping from my reality. 

Not that time. I was exasperated with the endless cycle of going through the familiar hardship at home after which I would resolve to scroll on my phone for hours, leaving me with a greater feeling of emptiness than before. It was so predictable. That is, until I picked up that book, and began to read. As I devoured every word that seemed to leap off the pages, I slowly began to feel my shoulders relax, my anxiety lessen, and soon, the smooth rhythm of the book began to engulf me, completely whisking me away into another world… where I began to find myself. 

As absurd as this sounds, it’s as true as the screen in front of you. You may be asking yourself, how can you find yourself in someone else’s writing, and especially in stories that have nothing to do with you? Well, that’s exactly what I thought. In truth and to my surprise, when I immersed myself in the story, I began to find healing in the fictional plot and characters within the story. Through my reading of multiple articles and platforms and in conversation with friends and acquaintances, I have found that this is an occurrence not isolated to my own individual experience. This was an interesting phenomenon, which left me wondering, “How in the world does this work?” 

Stephen Covey once said “Strength lies in differences, not similarities.” Now, Covey may not have been exactly referring to reading fiction books when he said this but it definitely points to  the unity and strength we can find in all areas and circumstances, even where there are no obvious similarities. When reading a book, it acts like an on switch in several parts of the brain, and with that our imagination is powered on. Our mind is able to generate images that are brought to life in our brains even if we have never seen what is being described. I mean, let’s be honest. None of us have actually seen Neverland with our own eyes, or walked through the halls of the infamous Hogwarts, and yet we continually allow the art of storytelling to transport us to new worlds and dimensions. 

Through imagination, our brains are actively making connections, and whether we know it or not, they sometimes turn out to be personal ones. Oftentimes, we may begin to relate to the problems encountered by the characters of the story, while unknowingly, working through our own personal struggles. That’s when the healing begins. Because we are actively following the characters’ story and witnessing them arrive at solutions to their own dilemmas, we begin to indirectly solve our own. This occurrence is infinitely and inevitably more freeing than merely being handed the solution. The best part is, we don’t have to travel to Middle Earth for this resolution to take place.

As a disclaimer, I am in no way an expert on the effects reading has on the brain. This article was written because, especially in this day in age, we are constantly surrounded by an overwhelming amount of options that can either be used as distraction, or as healthy coping mechanisms. While reading is in no way a silver bullet, it allows us to slow down, and experience the wonder of worlds filled with marvelous adventures, with the added benefit of gaining greater clarity of our own personal experiences. So, the next time you encounter a challenge, what adventure will you choose to dive into?