As Richard Steele so beautifully mentioned “Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body.”

Today in this article, I want to spread the awareness that reading indeed can improve your mental health.  Let me tell you a story of a young girl going through depression.

As a teen, when you comes in the age where everything and anything suddenly becomes too much and it's hard to share it to anyone, you can only trust yourself because you realize if you say it out loud you will be judged. That's exactly what happened to that girl. She likes to speak her mind, she likes to explore more but being raised in an orthodox society all she can do is keep quiet. She started feeling blue, she didn't knew who she can turn to. So many dreams, so many thoughts. She stared getting criticized, and started losing friends, even her family thinks she is different. As the time went  she slowly and slowly falls into depression and started losing her dreams. She became the person she never wanted to be. One day after her summer vacation, she started reading out of the blue and she reads and reads. Reading as she says keeps her mind at ease, keeps her sane. She started from Romeo and Juliet, ABC murders, The invisible man, The guilty, Percy Jackson to Harry Potter. She started feeling alive, feeling that she can connect, that if she reads she will never be alone. She always finds herself home when she reads, because for her home was never a place, it was a feeling! And that's how she got herself back and today, she accomplished what she wanted.

This was not the story of a patient but a warrior, who fought her demons and never gave up.

And today with this article I wanted to convey my message to all. Please never feel you're alone, because you're not! I don't know in which you will find your home but start reading today. Don't go for tomorrow. Whatever it is you want to achieve, start it now. Because you will never realize how it felt when you find yourself with the help of characters who can speak to you from centuries apart. Create a little fantasy in your reality. Live in that fantasy and conquer your world. “BECAUSE A READER LIVES A THOUSAND LIVES BEFORE HE DIES.”