The book that changed my life forever

Anyone who has ever met me knows that I love books and always have one to recommend. I have caught myself many times trying to guide people (sometimes complete strangers) towards the right book. I also have the tendency, when I realise someone will benefit from a specific book, to leave one "accidentally" in their house, lend them one from my personal collection (although I have noticed in such cases they rarely find their way back to me) or gift them one. Books are a magical gift to the world. They have the ability to talk to your soul, allow the mind to travel to extraordinary places and help you find solutions to almost any problem. One extraordinary thing about books though (and I hope I’m not the only weirdo out there that thinks this…) is that they talk to you and are read exactly when they need to be. Whenever I enter a bookstore, I just follow my gut feeling and buy that book that reaches out to me. However, I must admit, many times those that prompted me to purchase them may stay on my bookshelf for years before I am ready to read them, but they are always read EXACTLY when I need them.

My passion for books started from a very young age. I have childhood memories of constantly fighting with my brothers for me to get out of the toilet. There is a relevance here, promise! We only had one in the house I grew up in and I would go in with a book and many times would not come out until I had finished it (please don’t judge me!). I would read so many books a month, that at some point my dad just stopped taking me to the book store to buy me books and signed me up at the local library instead.

Nevertheless, there was a point in my life that I lost my connection to books. I was born in London to Greek Cypriot parents but at the age of 12 we relocated to Cyprus. Although I understood Greek at the time, I was not a native speaker and initially struggled with the change from an English speaking school to a Greek one. So, at that point in my life, I lost touch with reading due to my struggle with the Greek language but also because books written in English were no longer that easily accessible. During my school years in Cyprus, I was terrified to even attempt to read a book in Greek. Thankfully, at the age of 19, now an extremely confident Greek speaker, writer and reader, I started to read again and reconnected to my passion.

Over the years my book passion evolved to include more and more self-help and personal growth books. These books help me heal, challenge my status quo, upgrade my thoughts and help me improve and grow as a human being. Additionally, they give me the tools to serve and help others heal too and overcome issues they may be facing. People have amazing strengths and beauty that can be magnified if we help each other.