Reading is a solo activity, something you do entirely on your own. Some make it a social event, as I’ve written about in the past with my book club, but for the most part, the act of reading is done in complete and utter solitude.

                  This can be difficult when your favorite hobby is a solitary activity, and your personality thrives on social activity. Even if your personality is one that functions better in isolation, spending lots of time doing the thing you love alone can be hard. Reading transports you to different worlds, and allows you to put yourself in other people’s shoes to create a life where you can be anyone you want to be. This can make your reality seem dull or sad, especially when the rest of the time your life is spent sitting alone in a room with a book, (a dream to many, but after a while this can get tiresome).

                  Loneliness is an epidemic, and as much as I love reading, it is definitely a hobby that adds to that for a person. That’s why finding a community in the reading world is so important. Without friends who also love reading, the activity can seem even more lonely, as you have many things you want to discuss about your favorite books and characters, but no one to discuss them with. I’ve been so blessed to have found people around me who love the same thing I do, and even more so, I’m lucky that I’ve connected with all of you through this blog!

                  In the season of giving thanks, I just want to say how much I appreciate each and every one of you reading this, and that I have had so much fun coming up with topics to write about that I might be able to relate to you on. I know this isn’t necessarily a form of communication in the traditional two channel way, but I still like to picture that someone is reading this and feeling even a little bit less alone!

                  Writing these have helped to feel less alone as well, and this campaign has done a lot for my reading journey in such a short amount of time! As the campaign comes to an end, I wanted to make time and a specific post to those who have followed along my journey in creating this website, writing these blogs, promoting them on social media, and trying to grow this into something of community and fun.

                  I’m grateful, thankful, and more. Soon we’ll be back to the regularly scheduled content, but before I could blow past Thanksgiving into the Christmas season, I had to let you all know that I’m thankful for you and that I’m glad I’ve found this community, even if it was forced out of me through a class. I hope that each of you had time to reflect about what you’re grateful for this week, ate lots of good Thanksgiving food, got to spend some good old fashioned quality time with friends and family (hopefully free from arguing, ha-ha), and of course, I hope you found some time to read.

If you’re ever feeling lonely in you’re reading and want to talk to someone about your reading escapades, don’t forget you can always use the contact me button on this website!