When a Book Hits Too Close to Home

Hey guys! It’s Discussion time.. Most of us bookworms love reading because it’s a way to release stress, to decompress and escape from the hardships of everyday life, a way to become someone else and revel in the most incredible worlds and adventures… At least that’s what it is for me, and I’m sure that for a lot of you out there as well. But what happens when the content of those books hits just a little to close of our reality??

Let’s just say that the character you are reading about is dealing with Anxiety, just like you are…and maybe the struggle they’re going through resembles a little too much of what you went or are currently experiencing… What do we do then?? Do we shy away from those books?? Or Do we just endure them because it might help us in unexpected ways??

I know that a lot of books have trigger warnings when dealing with some type of sensitive topic like Drug Use, Abuse, Mental Illness, and so on…which is a good idea because many wouldn’t want to have to read about something that it is hurtful to them, or that they just disagree with for whatever reason.. We don’t want to spoil our relaxing pastime by getting angry, or depressed…

However, no matter how many warnings you might get there’s always the chance that something you are reading just .. punches you in the gut (that’s what it feels like– truly). For instance, a while back I was reading the Unknown Series by Wendy Higgings; it is about an alien invasion, and you would think that there would be no issues there, it’s just harmless fun, right??… Wrong, because the characters in those books were living on a survival mentality so very similar to what I was experiencing at the time — because of how messed up things are where I’m from (minus the alien invasion.. of course) that I just couldn’t take it, I had to put down the book for a while because it was actually stressing me out  — and not in a good way and making me depressed.

I was able to finish the series once I had detached myself a little from what was going on, but to be honest these affected my opinion of the book — not in a bad way, thankfully in this case — but how could it not?? And this situation it’s something that has happened to me quite a few times.. I read a lot so it’s bound to happen, I also don’t shy myself away from hard topics, or what we call problematic content but I usually have a better grip on my emotions (other than the feels we all expect when we dive into a new book) so this really called out to me.. hence this rambling post about it..

I don’t really have any tips for you to deal with this once it happens, other than putting down the book and truly think if it’s something you want to submit yourself to or not.. after all reading should be enjoyable but it is also supposed to give you food for thought, to open your mind to new things.. So, I would encourage you to push through and try to find something out the experience.. it might be helpful in so many cases, and it will make you feel not so alone in your struggle.. whatever that is.. Just take your time…

This wasn’t my usual funny discussion but I hope that you guys enjoyed it regardless and hopefully got something out of my rambling mess…

So, what do you do when a book has a difficult topic for you?? Do you shy away from it or push through it? I’m curious to know if I’m not the only one who has experienced this kind of thing…Let’s talk in the comments below…

As Always

Happy Reading