I know exactly how you feel. When I was younger I read a lot, I mean, so much so that there are very few pictures of me as a child without a book or newspaper or something in front of me. My younger sister and my mother would tease me about how much I read and the types of things I read. As people who do not appreciate reading, or maybe find it difficult, they could never understand my love for it. My mother grew up in a house where reading was not acceptable. She grew up on a farm and the kids were encouraged to drop out of school at 15 and get a job. Reading was a leisure hobby for the wealthy and it was deemed a waste of time. My sister was more into clothes and popularity and reading was just not “cool”.

They had their things that were important to them and I had mine and people make fun of, or tease others about things they don’t understand. I would tease my sister about how vain she was because I didn’t understand the need to fit in or have the latest clothes, it wasn’t important to me. I can’t give you any advice about how to deal with your sister, I would just hide from mine, but what I can say is that reading gave me a love of learning and a love of learning led me to wanting to understand how everything works and I ended up getting a degree in physics and landing my dream job. I was the first person in my family to go to college, and I know that a huge part of that was due to my love of books. So… read a lot, read everything, never stop...it is the best education you will ever get. You will learn about compassion, understanding, humor, pain, grief and love. It will allow you to discover what you are passionate about and to see things from other perspectives. It will teach you to dream big and be a lifelong explorer. It will be an escape and a conversation starter. You will grow and it will change you.