Escaping the atmosphere of Ormond Beach, my parents commonly find me in a serene state as I flip through a crisp novel. Transported from my bed to a scene full of wonder and creativity, I find myself completely and utterly lost. Lost in a world that separates myself from the anxiety and deadlines that dominate my life.

A stroll down the aisles I take a gander at the pieces of work that are bounded and stitched up with thread and possibility. I believe in the possibility of a new life between each book cover. That weathered book that is collecting dust, hidden behind other novels on the shelf, gifts me with the experience of a life in the late nineteenth-century as I have to worry about who I will marry with the method of “courting” that was recently introduced to society. Or perhaps I grasp onto a novel that follows an adventure-loving individual along a journey to a secluded cavern that is heavily guarded and protected. With that character’s storyline I become that very person that is a risk taker with an all-or-nothing attitude because of their intense internal drive for success, those characteristics are separate from my actual, conservative thoughts and actions in the real world. However, with my tight grip on the novel as I dart both eyes from line to line in chapter to chapter, I believe in the influence, the influence that I could achieve the virtues and the tremendous attributes that each book character exhibits within every paperback or hardcover.  The process, even though extensive and relentless, benefits in the long run as the time spent admiring and idolizing my beloved characters aides my desire and appetite for my own personal development.

I may not display the courage of each superhero, the spontaneous nature of each daredevil, or the intellectual mind state of each problem-solver; however, the excursion that each book takes me on will continually assist myself in my own quest to develop into the kind of person that I crave to become. I believe that life is about the effort of becoming the best version of oneself. The version that you hope someone could write a novel about the attributes that you possess in a thrilling saga or a story that gets passed along at family gatherings and bonfires. I believe in the escape of your mind into a lengthy read, but also continues to further the character development not only in the novel, but your own character and values.