More Than a Hobby - reading as soul-searching

POV: You Realised Your "Hobby" is Actually a Form of Soul-Searching

Let’s be real for a moment. You didn’t just "pick up a book" last night.

It started innocently enough—a striking cover, a recommendation from a friend, the promise of a world more interesting than the one outside your window. But then the clock hit 2:00 AM, and you were still there, heart hammering, gripped by a character's impossible choice.

That isn't just reading. It’s an excavation. Truly, I have found reading is soul-searching.

Digging Through the Dirt

We often treat our love for fiction as a quiet little pastime, a way to "switch off." But have you ever noticed how the books that stay with you are the ones that force you to switch on?

We are digging, page by page, through the grit and the shadows. We’re looking for pieces of ourselves hidden in the snark of a morally grey anti-heroine or the high-stakes decisions of characters who are every bit as messy as we are. Why do we love the "villain" who protects their own? Perhaps because we’re learning how to protect our own boundaries, too.

The Deadbolted Doors

Fiction has a peculiar way of acting as a skeleton key. It unlocks doors in your brain that you didn't even know were deadbolted.

Maybe it’s a line about grief that finally gives you permission to cry. Or a moment of "female rage"—that raw, righteous fire—that makes you realise you’ve been playing small for far too long. These stories provide the language for the things we feel but can’t yet name. They allow us to ask the difficult questions: Who would I be in the dark? What am I willing to sacrifice for the truth?

The Inner Circle

This community—this "Bookstagram" or "Bookish World"—is not just a casual gathering. It’s a sanctuary.

It’s a safe place to grow together without the distraction of unnecessary spice or hollow tropes. Here, we value the weight of a story's ideas. We crave the emotional stakes and the mythical creatures, but most of all, we crave the connection.

We aren't just hoarding paper and ink. We’re building a map of our own souls.

So, I have to ask:

Reading as soul-searching

What was the last book that unlocked something in you? Was it a flicker of recognition or a total shattering of what you thought you knew?