There are many ways that people choose to relax. What one person may choose to do during their free time may not be of interest to the next person. This is fine because if we all liked to do the same things there would be crowds to contend with, lines to wait in and stress to deal with. I am in a profession that involves dealing with people everyday. I am a social worker. People’s issues, problems and disabilities are what I deal with every day at work. When I have time off I do not want to deal with crowds and there are many days when I do not want to deal with any people.
One of my favorite things to do is to read best selling books. I love to read all kinds of subject matter, fiction and non-fiction. I like to read current best selling books, but my favorite thing to do is to look back on the list of past best sellers. Many of the books have become classics. They are timeless and will be popular reads for years to come. Others are trendier and no longer apply to our times, but they are still fun to read. Many of the past best selling books I need to borrow from the library because they are no longer available in book stores except through special order. I do not want to spend a great deal of money buying an obscure book, but I will read it if I can locate a copy in the library. The local librarian became curious about my reading choices after she had helped me locate four former best selling books. I explained to her that I was looking up old list of best selling books from years ago and reading them. She thought this was an interesting idea and she began looking up some of the books that she thought looked interesting. Soon we began reading the same books so that we could discuss them. This has turned into a great friendship. We have not ventured beyond our love of reading. We do not discuss what is going on in our work, our private life or community. We simply discuss the different books we have read. This has been a very rewarding and relaxing relationship. We recommend books to each other and enjoy discussing what we have read. It is great to have an uncomplicated relationship that does not get mired down in emotion or feelings of obligations. Meeting with my reading buddy has become one of the best ways for me to forget the stresses of day to day life, and to increase my knowledge base through reading.