6. How Reading Helped me Survive the Pandemic
and why you should read, too!
Dear Reader,
I call 2020-21 '“the year I rediscovered myself.”
The pandemic years are unique because they were hard on every single one of us.
But for me, personally, it was an experience like no other, because, for nearly a year and a half, I lived completely alone and isolated from my friends and family, barely stepping out of my house.
The life I lived pre-pandemic was so busy, I barely had time to think. Suddenly, when it hit, for the first time ever, I was completely alone, with just my thoughts to keep me company.
How I got back to reading
Ever since I started working, back in 2011, my reading habit faced a steady decline. I had a thriving career in social media, so my screen time soared, leaving barely any time (or energy) for anything else. Gradually, my reading habit receded into the background.
But in 2020, I was back in my childhood bedroom, surrounded by the books that made me the person I am today. From Russian fairytales, and comic books, thriller novels, and encyclopedias, to literary classics and poetry, there it all was, encased in my glass bookshelves.
My depression and anxiety were at an all-time high. Between the news that showed heart-rending images of people all over the world grappling with this mystery virus and the constant fear in my heart about my own parents’ safety in Bangalore, I was always on edge.
Books had always been my refuge in the past. When I was bullied in school. When I felt low. When I needed an escape.
But now, after all these years, I hesitated.
What if I’ve lost the attention span and the patience to get through entire books?
What if reading doesn’t feel as exciting anymore?
I no longer had the excuse of ‘no time’. Between working from home and doing chores, I had no commute anymore.
All I had to do was pick one up and begin.
And so I did, starting with Toni Morrison’s Paradise.
A few days later though, something happened, that would totally change my life as I knew it.
My first nudge to get back to reading
In February 2021, after months of isolation, two things happened.
My parents came to visit me and be there with me.
I also decided to try dating again - safely and outside. On a certain dating app, I noticed that the people around me weren’t really my type. I was bored and decided to extend the radius. A certain profile popped up, and its first line mentioned ‘Project Bibiliotherapy’, an initiative this guy started to ‘nudge people to read more’.
I decided to sign up for these nudges. (I also ‘super liked’ the profile because well, this person apparently loved quoting from one of my favourite books, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
The rest, as they say, is history.
It’s human nature to crave familiarity, to seek experiences one can relate to. When I saw this human, a little older than I am, being so passionate about reading even now, it inspired me, to reach within and find the old me that devoured books during dinnertime, bedtime, and every other time just because. Just for the joy of it.
How reading helped me
When the deadly second wave hit, I was alone again. My parents had gone back to Bangalore, not knowing that this short, peaceful time was actually the calm before the storm.
I tested positive for covid.
On the news, all I saw were people queuing up for oxygen and beds. Bodies piling up. A crisis of epic proportions unfolded. In my own street, I heard of neighbours who I knew of for years, passing away from it. It was a scary, scary time. My mental health was at an all-time low. With covid, I lost my sense of taste and smell, and I was so fatigued, feverish, and dehydrated that I could barely move.
As I lay in bed, all alone, not knowing how the illness would unfold for me, I read more and more. I discovered the term Bibliotherapy courtesy of Nitin. I read all sorts of books, from American Gods by Neil Gaiman to books about World War II, to old favourites from my childhood like Enid Blyton and Bugs Bunny comics.
Reading made me feel whole again. It gave me a reason to cling to hope, even as everything crumbled around me. It also unlocked my writing after so long, as I got back to my poetry and my blog. It made me think of old times, and of life beyond the pandemic.
I somehow knew this wasn’t permanent. I felt gratitude, and I decided to also volunteer to call and help those who needed to find oxygen, hospital beds, and other resources for people. I tried to make myself useful. I started listening to more music, trying to cheer myself up, to make the most of my time in isolation.
Reading books gave me hope. They made me tap into parts of my mind that I’d forgotten about. They were my companions during one of the loneliest, darkest periods of my life.
I can safely say that reading saved me from total despair. I recovered from covid, but most of all my mind needed this.
Today, working with Nitin on Project Bibliotherapy, there are so many moments of utter hopelessness and despair. So many challenges come up when you run your own venture together.
But throughout the good times and bad, for both of us, books have been our constant companions, even when there’s uncertainty all around.
Last month, when we were dealing with a family emergency and took turns in pulling all-nighters at the hospital, we both carried books in our overnight bags. It made waiting a little less hard, and it kept our minds from going to dark places.
This is why we do what we do.
This is why we want to help you too, discover the sheer delight and magic of reading. The very real joy and comfort it can bring you. Of course, the tons that you can learn from reading too :)
Thank you for being with us for another edition of the Letter to the Reader. We come out with a new edition every first Thursday and third Thursday of every month.