Why do you read/write?

[Anonymous No.14791204]

My answer would probably be because I needed to invest myself in something, something genuine and yet fictional. My love to read and write has always been a hedonistic pursuit, I don't want to die living only my mundane and boring life filled with emotional suffering and unhappiness, there is so much more to understand in literature, and there is plenty of room to dig deep. Experiencing other people's mindsets and writing your own will forever be golden. For me it's a coping mechanism as much as zoning out and fumbling around in my thoughts would be, reading philosophy and investing myself in the author's beliefs on. I don't care much about the "reading makes you smart" aspect of it all, I think it's mostly a matter of wisdom and insight, and this insight is largely incomprehensible to people who are ignorant enough to muck around in their boring lives trying to savour something.

It doesn't make me happy, but it gives a certain satisfaction I am unable to experience from other activities, please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way?

[Anonymous No.14791333]

>>14791204
I read for catharsis, and to imagine/experience things that aren't possible.

[Anonymous No.14791339]

Because its one of the few things left that doesnt make me feel insane

[Anonymous No.14791342]

>>14791204
Because I'm working on my salvation.

[Anonymous No.14791399]

I mostly read because I don’t have anything else to do in my free time. It is no wonder why I only began to read once I went through a breakup. I have no social life and I get bored and feel lazy watching TV for hours. Reading makes me feel like I’m not waiting my time and it makes me feel better about myself that watching TV would. “I may be alone again but at least I’m investing in myself by learning these new things.”

TL;DR Cope for Social and Romantic Failure

[Anonymous No.14791501]

>>14791204
Because my oneitis wanted to be a writer. When I let her go I couldn't sever the bond completely. I took up writing as a way to revivify the connection in a remote way. It helped me completely block her out of my awareness while her life flourished (I assume) and mine crumbled to dust. After the ashes had settled writing became my means of laying a new foundation. Now, it has taken on a life of its own. At its core remains a sincere longing for connection colored by grief. My writing is very fatalistic. Every idea slams closed with resolute outcomes.

[Anonymous No.14792675]

>>14791204
I can't cope with my life and books are a healthier way to escape than drugs or booze.

[Anonymous No.14792688]

because you need to have silence and be in solitude to do it, and silence and solitude is good

[Anonymous No.14792935]

>>14791204
>reading
Back in the day other media was fucking expensive and I liked to explore different worlds in fairy tales. I grew up poor, so hanging with friends doing shit, reading and watching A-Team is all I could do.

>writing
Sketching out stories is the only thing I enjoy doing for stupid amounts of time; in process I learned to enjoy writing too. If my shit helps someone else as much as stories from others helped me, it'd be great too.

Besides, I could never deal with authorities and don't give a shit about most self-employment pursuits about increasing a number in my bank account, so pretty much every path is closed either way.

[Anonymous No.14793009]

Reading gives me a place to go.
Writing fulfills the need to create.

[Anonymous No.14793038]

I'm unemployable so it's writing or death.

[Anonymous No.14793157]

>reading
For a too large part I have been reading just for self-esteem, I suspect. A number of works I have thoroughly enjoyed and devoured, but lots of the books I’ve read it feels like I did rather force onto myself, so I could say: Great, another (famous) book read!

Though in a number of cases I had to force the first part of the book and then later started to deeply enjoy it.

Still, I would like to let go of this perceived "I need to read all this go be great" more, and take more enjoyment out of reading…

>writing
I basically can’t write Fiction anymore since by now I expect way too much of me. It’s a disease, this "I am going to write a book, become famous, have never to work anymore"
I may have only taken up writing because at the age of 10 or something people were praising what I wrote for school too much.

I write poetry sometimes, which I can mostly keep clear of the expectation-disease, also since I make it really bad in a way on purpose. But something of my feeling is still in there, because all this is my feeling, of course – and then I can read some of these poems later and feel calmed by it like you are calmed by literature that really speaks to you deeply.

I’d like to reach as many poems as Van Gogh paintings.
Because I think, in order to go on and on, Van Gogh really can’t have felt terrified about 200, 300, 400 paintings done but not sold… maybe in the mornings, or in the evenings, but not while he was painting, or he must’ve been petrified by the weight.
And so I would hope to keep on writing the poems for myself without any thought of them ever turning me into a succesful something.