What Reading Can Teach Us

Not all of us are someone who envisions sitting with a book in that perfect reading nook we saw on Pintrest, drinking a warm mug of coffee as we fantasize about rain coming to California.  What do raindrops in California and mental health have in common? Loneliness.
Even if you are someone who isn’t a fan of reading, if you are someone who is struggling with a mental illness, I strongly urge you to read a book on someone who’s struggles parallel your own. Part of what makes having mental health challenges so difficult is the feeling of being separated or different from your peers. With depression, for example, it can often feel as though we are looking out at the world through foggy glasses, wearing an invisible lead blanket. While friends and family may try to be helpful with the “you’ll pull out of it!” or “try to look on the bright side!” this often makes us feel even worse. Why? Because when we can’t “pull it ” that alone makes us feel as though there’s something wrong with us intrinsically; instead of being a person who happens to be living with the challenges of depression.
Picking up a book (I often recommend memoirs) helps quell the feelings of being the lone person floating around a sea of seemingly functional people who spring out of bed in the morning.  Often, just by reading someone’s struggles that mirror your own, and reading their own process of dealing with mental health, we ourselves begin to process our own uncomfortable (sometimes hidden) feelings through the protagonist. This is a way to safely connect to a person, learn perspective, gain insight and most importantly know you are not alone. Also, spoiler alert: all those people who keep telling you to “pull out of it!” time and time again? There’s a very good chance they have had their own mental health struggles as well. 
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