Books

There are two non living things I've loved most in my life. Music is obviously the first of them and the other thing was books.
I have a firm belief, that a man...a person pardon me, is shaped by the music he hears and the books he reads in his formative years. People being an influence is all fine...but a real self analysis...real self growth cannot happen without books and music.

At every point in my life, books have helped me learn life. They've taught me to love myself and be happy with who I am, even at a point where I thought that I was the only one like me. The need to conform was great, but a book told me then that if I believed that I was doing the right thing...if I was happy with who I was, then it was okay to be different. And today I am quite proud of who I am. I can't believe how different I would have been if not for that book.

I was always quite bad at making friends. I don't know why. I was always a good student, always good at other stuff too...even popular...but I rarely had real friends. Books were my best friend growing up. They gave me company and a world that was my own. Where I was accepted for what I was without judgement. (Music embraced me equally well by the way.)

I learnt some of the best lessons in my life through books.
I am optimistic...almost hopelessly and perenially optimistic. That believe me, is not a bad thing. Early in my life, a line I had read in a book helped me reinforce this belief.
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts."

Brilliant yet so simple right?
Well think about it and you'll see how you can give yourselves real hope even in your worst time.

Books gave me dreams...the ability to think beyond your normal life.
They taught me about love. Real love. Not the stuff you see in movies and read in books. Yes the last line wasn't a mistake. There's fantasy love and then there's the real thing. Real love is deep. Its when all you want to do is give, for the sake of someone's happiness, without want anything in return. Its so strong that just its existense is enough to keep you happy forever...and once you figure out how to bring it in your life, nothing is ever bad after that.

Books gave me that...and a lot more.

This blog seems a lot like a "Thank you" page of sorts doesn't it. I was thinking to myself that its strange and pleasantly refreshing to be able to just write out my thoughts and send them off into the ether. Doesn't matter if anyone is reading this or if its just for me.
The thing is...when this started off, the first thing I felt I need to write about were all the things that have made me...me!

Books and Music are two things for sure.