Dude. Life is hard. Being and adult is never what we think it is. The freedom is nice, but it truly only goes so far. When you’re a kid, the only people you’re really held accountable to are your parents, teachers, and some religious figures, but you always have your parents as a buffer to the most other authority. As an adult, the only people who can act as a buffer between us and other authority figures are called ‘lawyers’. As adults, we have to contend with our managers and coworkers at work, the IRS, the Law, our phone companies, the power company, landlords, mortgage brokers, and all other people who may want to open a vein in our bank account and drain away the funds that we trade our souls for at our nine-to-fives.
I love my job and some freedoms that come with being ‘of age’, but it’s an indisputable fact that being an adult really sucks most of the time–so many consequences.
This is why it’s nice to have some kind of escape from it all. Some people choose alcohol, some choose pot, some choose hard drugs, some choose to numb their bodies and minds with strenuous exercise that takes whatever energy they have left and throws it into barbells and treadmills. I choose books and the occasional whiskey. Podcasts are probably the only thing that get me through the day at work, keeping the office dementors at bay, but when I get home there’s nothing better than climbing into my hammock with some strong female who is fighting against all odds to get what she wants, whether that be the hot warrior who struts into her peripheral or to save her entire kingdom from the hands of some conquering patriarchy. Heroines are my heroine.
As much as I would love to get into realistic fiction and be one of those people with a history degree that likes to just read all the serious history material, my life has already been serious enough. I love the fantasy and creating a new world in my mind, guided by an author who is just as bent on escaping this time and place as I am. It’s like a friend who gets you, who understands that what you need isn’t a reminder of where you are, but that you need to be somewhere else. Don’t get me wrong, I love my husband and my baby girl-dog, but sometimes I need to be able to travel to a completely new place and our budget does not constitute a trip around the world or a time machine. $10.00 for a brand new world and seeing through someone else’s eyes for a few hours is a pretty damn good deal.
I’m closing a chapter of my life right now, nearing the end of one thing that I’ve always wanted, getting my Bachelor’s. It’s in history with a minor in Gen Bus. I’ve been an accountant by trade for about 10 years, and I honestly all I have every wanted was to find a thing I’m passionate about and make it my bread and butter.
However: not how life works.
Most people end up doing something to put food on the table and find their passions through hobbies. What’s one thing I’ve always loved? Books. So now I’m going to take that love and put it toward something constructive. Even if my book blog doesn’t take off, it’ll help my writing–yeah, I kind of want to write a book. It’ll keep me going. It’s something I’ll have fun with. Plus, it’ll give me some place that I can refer people to when they want book recommendations, because that happens ALL. THE. TIME. Sometimes I can’t even remember why I like a book, I just remember the amazing high that the story gave me and I want to share that experience. Books are a great drug in that way. They’re fully legal, people encourage you to share the habit, and they don’t cause physical dependency (though I have a book on me in some form at all times–just in case).
I’m heading into this rabbit hole and you’re all coming with me.
Always Lost in Words 