Why you should read more this year.

The man who wants to learn must first read, and then travel to rectify what he has learned.

Casanova

Reading to me is a bit like going on an adventure. I mean, what changes in the end? When you travel, you discover new countries, new cultures, new ways of thinking. It’s the same when you read a book. You discover new horizons, new places with people with different character traits from your own. You learn to discover others without judgment or comparison to yourself. You encounter new ways of living. You discover a new language, new words in each book.

Through reading, I have already accomplished the crossing of the Amazon with the book Latitude 0 by Mike Horn. I was a regular at the festive evenings in Abidjan with Aya de Yopougon. I was able to chat with a computer genius from The Millenium trilogy. I was friends with Maltida, the gifted child of Roald Dahl. I have lived 1001 lives in my childhood bedroom just by turning the pages of my books.

When I could not yet afford to travel physically, I used the books to fly away. To escape from a classroom where I was bored, to not hear my parents arguing. For all those situations where I didn’t want to be there anymore. Reading was the common thread of my childhood, my adolescence, my life. It’s the only constant I could always hold on to. The activity that brought me so many moments of joy. For a long time, reading was the plane ticket that I didn’t have to pay for, but just had to borrow from the local library.

That’s where I get my love of travel, my curiosity about things and people from. Because in my head I’ve already travelled on the 5 continents. Whether it’s through the past or the future. I knew France in the 19th century at the time of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables but also the apocalyptic world of the Divergent Dystopia. Reading has made me what I am.

Why am I writing this article? To invite you to find a passion that drives you. Make it one of your priorities. Take time for it. Don’t let your time be stolen by Instagram, Facebook or all those applications that demand your attention with their notifications. Dedicate time to do an activity or activities that interest you and feed you spiritually. Choose how you want to spend your time and don’t let your phone choose for you.
It’s life-changing.

Enjoy your reading and take care of yourself!