It’s not easy being anxious. The good news for all people with anxiety is that you are not alone! As discussed in our article about how reading is a useful tool to improve mental health, books provide us with a connection. They show us that there are many people who share our struggle, whether it be depression, anxiety, mourning the loss of a loved one, and more.
For bookworms, some small things can cause little tidbits of anxiety. If you want a good, understanding chuckle, here are 11 things all anxious bookworms worry about:
1. Someone will give away the ending to a book before you’ve finished it, so you hide in your room or avoid human contact until you’ve finished reading
2. And on that note, fearing that a friend will finish some book before you
Everything is a competition
3. Realizing you forgot a book at home, or worse, in a public place, and then not having that book with you for an extended period of time is literally the worst
This is especially anxiety-producing if you go on vacation. OMG, imagine 7+ days without a book!
4. Meeting a person who says they don’t read…
HOW DO YOU EVEN RESPOND TO THEM
5. Not remembering the name of an author, character or book and having people judge you
Because nothing is worse than being judged
6. Nothing is scarier than giving a book to a friend/family member/lover/coworker
Because you proceed to anxiously wonder if they secretly hate the book
7. Finding out that someone hates a book you love
How? Why? Nothing makes sense!
8. Lending out a book and then waiting to see if whoever you lent it to ruined the book somehow
They could write in it, fold the pages, spill coffee on it…. The list is endless, AHH!!!!
9. Ruining someone else’s book that they so graciously lent you
ANXIETY. I FEEL IT.
10. Worrying that you won’t finish a book before it’s due back at the library, and then….
11. Returning a library book late… and then needing to pay a fee
You might as well just not return the book at a certain point
Feature image by Megan Dalton Rafferty.