Journey With Quila

I started my love for reading books when I was a child by reading fairy tales and novels. I remember the giddy feeling I had when going home from school because my favorite novel was waiting for me.

During my college days, being away from home, reading novels by Nicholas Sparks and Cecelia Ahern saved me from loneliness and distracted me from the high pressure of project deadlines and the demands of passing difficult exams.

Reading fiction, especially stories with happy endings, gave me comfort and made me feel that everything was going to be alright. Being single during those years also made me hopeful that one day, I would have my own fairytale love story.

But I guess life happens, and when it does, it forces you to rethink your choices and become someone you think you should be.

That happened to me in my late 20s, when the pressure of settling down crept in. I was not stable in my career and felt lost in life. While everyone around me seemed to be on the right trajectory, I felt stuck and unsure of where to go. I did not even know who I wanted to become.

So I tried to reassess everything, including my life goals, career path, and personal choices. At that time, I thought I needed to be more mature, so I believed that part of reinventing myself was reading more self-help books. I wanted to learn from people who had succeeded, understand their path to wealth, and hopefully mirror their mindset so I could find my passion and succeed as well.

I bought many non-fiction and self-help books, and truthfully, I learned a lot from them. I enjoyed reading The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest, Atomic Habits by James Clear, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and many more.

These books gave me confidence in myself and inspired me to invest in new skills that could help me turn my passion into something profitable.

However, it often took a lot of time and effort to finish a book, especially older ones with heavy wording. If you are new to self-help books, I highly recommend starting with The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest.

This led me to challenge myself to read 10 pages a day just to stay consistent. Six years into this journey, I have become more cautious about buying non-fiction books and make sure they are something I can finish. Still, despite all of this, I somehow felt lonely inside.

One day, my partner and I went out to grab coffee and passed by a bookstore. He encouraged me to check it out and even promised to buy any book I liked. Even though I already had many unread books, I gave in.

I did not have a specific book in mind at that time because I had already purchased most of the self-help books I wanted to read, including The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, which I still have not read.

Then I came across Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum. I became curious about it because the cover looked like a Studio Ghibli inspired illustration, and it was about a bookshop owner. Even though I had not read novels in a long time and still had many unread books, I decided to get it out of curiosity.

And reading it felt like coming home to myself. It was like reliving my childhood memories and rediscovering the excitement of not knowing what would happen next. I could not put it down. The funny thing was, I did not even need to follow my 10 page challenge because I would lose track of time while reading.

It felt like letting my inner child come out and play again after a long time.

I then realized that while it is okay to become someone new when life requires it, it is also important not to lose yourself in the process. Being true to yourself, accepting who you are, and embracing what you love can also help you become your best self.

That is why I hope you never lose the things that make the child in you happy.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. By the way, I’m curious, what childhood passion are you ready to rediscover or are already making space for in your life again?