The Most Valuable Hobby I’ve Developed

Reading.

As a little girl immigrated from Vietnam, being tossed into a room of third graders who spoke fluent English with a few phrases my parents taught me, “my name is Quyen” and “I am eight years old”. Reading taught me English.

Every time I read, I’d write words I didn’t know in a notebook, then clacking away at my dad’s English-to-Vietnamese digital translator. I had notebooks and notebooks filled with words at the end of the year.

There was comfort in learning this way. It was my way and it was effective and it was exciting. My mom would take me to the library to get new books once I was done with my stack. I could see my progression with the kind of books I was reading. By two years time, I tested into the accelerated program at my elementary and into middle school.

I was a librarian’s assistant in middle school. Organizing books, being around them, reading them. It was all very fun and I felt right at home. I guess I always found my home in books. I discovered my love for history and mythology at this time.

I guess I forgot how much I loved reading in high school and college, because you know, all I wanted to do is be popular and fit in.

In my early 20s, I picked up reading again out of boredom and re-discovered how rich it was. To open a book and have access to infinite worlds of fiction or tap into the perspectives of really smart people who have a big passion for every topic you can imagine. Reading taught me curiosity.

Who I am now is due to the multitudes of books I’ve consumed. It’s changed my perspectives on what’s possible, given me guidance on crossroads in my life, and continue shaping my future with knowledge.

It’s my most cherished and valuable hobby. There are infinite stories in the world that I can tap in. A hobby that gives the greatest return on investment, perspectives.