Find a book you can’t help but dive into. 

One that you want to read, but yet, some part of you also doesn’t, because you don’t want it to end.

One that makes you want to sneak away from work to read it in the middle of the day. 

One that makes you want to find all the 3-minute gaps of blank space in your day so you can get through one more page.

One you want to bring with you even on the 10-minute drive to the supermarket. Because who knows, maybe there’ll be a random overturned tractor-trailer blocking any possible way of exiting the highway, and if you’ll be stuck there you want to be stuck reading that book. 

Find one that makes you feel something – not just know something.

One that makes you feel like you can’t help but read a section and say, Yes, Yes, Yes. 

And it doesn’t have to be because it mimics your story or experience, but just that there’s some thread in it that hits a nerve that you can’t help but be sensitive to. Find a book like that.

One that excites you. That makes you think, Man, this book can really change my life, or at least the way you interact with a certain aspect of life. 

Find one that will give you perspective and experiences you’ll never forget that’ll always be a part of your journey.

All of this, while never having ever met or physically talking to the author.

Maybe it’s so impactful because you forget it’s a real person talking? You forget they have any audible voice at all. Once it’s on the page, it’s easier to believe. This isn’t just someone talking and blabbering on about something. This was worthy of publishing on a page. People reviewed this; it went past so many eyes to make it approved to come to me.

A good book strips down everything but the actual message. You don’t need to wade through all the swamps of baggage and stigma and preconceived notions associated that the messenger carries with them. If the author verbally has a weird voice or social tick, none of that matters in a book. If they’re a good writer.

I remember almost getting hit by a car because I was so locked into reading a book on my walk home from work one day. I was so enravished in reading “The Minds of Billy Milligan” by Daniel Keyes. It was a thick, 400-something page deep dive into this guy’s multiple personalities and I could not get enough of it. When I was reading while attempting to cross a one-way street, I apparently got distracted and started walking straight into traffic instead of across and to the other sidewalk.

A car beeped at me and I poked my head up from the book, took a second to realize where I was, and then scurried off to the sidewalk to continue reading in peace, without interruption. 

The thing is, though, I wasn’t embarrassed.

You know that embarrassed feeling...like when you try to get away with sending a quick text while your car is stopped at a red light and the light changed but you didn’t realize, so everyone starts beeping at you and giving you the look. There’s that rush of embarrassment and face going red.

That wasn’t the feeling I had, though.

It was just so happy to find a book that I could dive into, so far that my reality didn’t matter...and happy that particular driver wasn’t texting behind the wheel.

Anyway, that book for me right now is Bird by Bird. It makes me want to say, “Anne Lamott, thank you.”

And I’m not even through the preface.