The Best Things Ever Said: Reader Edition
I learned to read late, and I hated reading. Probably because I was behind my peers. I was behind because I have a language based learning disability(Dyslexia)and so reading was hard and felt impossible. Of course didn’t want to spend my time doing something that difficult and exhausting. It felt like torture. Until it didn’t. And, yes,it kind of was just simple for me. One minute it the worst thing ever, the next I understood why it was worth all of that work. I found the right book.
That was many years ago. And, since then I’ve spent countless hours with my nose in a book, happily. In a book is truly my happy place. Over the years, I’ve spent countless hours reading and every so often, someone makes a comment about reading to me that makes a huge difference.
These are some of the most life changing comments people have made to me in regards to reading (in no particular order).
“I went to the bookstore last night and I saw this book. It made me think of you. I think you’re really going to like it so I got it just for you.”Ok, so I paraphrased this one but it was when I was in fifth grade. This was one of the moments that changed my life. I’d walked into my special education classroom and my teacher said this to me, well something close to this. The book she had picked up for us to read was the book that showed me that reading could be fun and exciting and amazing. Thinking about it now, it might also be the reason I love bookstores so much,why they feel like endless possibilities to me and like every question can be answered with a trip to the bookstore.
“Do you know what you just did? You read at a college level! It says you were at the level of a college student in their second year!” Again, this was paraphrased as it was said when I was in 7th grade. When you were in special education, they re-evaluated you every three years or so. It was while they were doing one of these evaluations that the school psychologist got distracted and just kept showing me more words. When she focused back on me,I’d gone further then she had expected and I’d managed to make it to college level words. Mind you, I couldn’t really read until I was in 5th grade. It was a moment I realized that maybe there was hope for me after all. Maybe I wasn’t quite as stupid as I thought I was.
“Then you should read every day. No excuses.” This might also be paraphrased as I don’t record my therapy sessions. Yes. My therapist said this. He had been talking about how meditation was important to do everyday. I told him that meditation didn’t work for me. Eventually, in one session he started talking about meditation again and how really it’s more about finding calm, and piece. It’s about relaxing and clearing your head. I said the closest I ever come to that is when I’m reading. He told me reading, then, was my meditation and I should do it everyday. It was important for me. That was the moment that cemented it for me. It was that reason to justify why I'd shut out the world every night for fictional (and every now and then Non-Fiction) worlds. I didn’t need an excuse. I had my reason. It’s good for my mental health. And, when that doesn’t work, I default to, “My therapist told me I had to.”
“I don’t think you read slow. I just think you read with purpose.” This was said by one of my best friends. We were talking about a book I’d read recently and I made a comment about how it took me so long to read and how I know I read slowly. I’ve gotten used to being around bookworms who read significantly fast than I do. That’s when he said this. He then said he thought of it as I was just making sure I didn’t miss anything. It changed my perspective. Now, instead of thinking that I read slow, I turn it around to I’m reading with purpose. Maybe I progressed a slower rate then some, but I was getting all of the pieces and crumbs along the way. It took something that had made me feel bad about myself for years into something positive.
So there you have it. Some of the the most important things people have said to me as far as reading goes; things that have literally changed my life in one way or another. What’s something reading related that someone said to you that changed your life or way of thinking? Tell us in the comments.
