The very important importance of reading

I read to relax, to laugh or to smile. I read to feel, to cry or to bristle.

I read to shut it all out, and to let it all in. I read to make sense of the past, and to imagine a future.

I read to learn and I read to teach. I read to myself, and of course, to the children.

I read to stop, escape from the day and I read to carry on, each book completed a triumph over the chaos of my mind.

I read to feed the world inside my head and I read to slow that same world down, stop it churning when it threatens to run away with itself.

I read for all of this, for comfort, for habit. Most of all, however, I read because I must. Reading saves my soul.