Happy New Year! What a time to be alive.

The start of the new year almost always brings a lot of new elements into many people’s lives.

How has your new year been?

Any crazy changes or new plot twists?

I hope it’s all off to a good start so far.

Me personally? I’ve been doing well.

Been having a lot of work, and trying to find full-time work, but I’m doing well.

Well, other than all the crazy cold weather that has been going on. I live in New York, and it has been incredibly cold as of late.

I’ve been doing a bit of traveling too lately.

Last week I made my way into Manhattan because I had a couple of interviews.

This past Memorial Day weekend, I also made my way to Dallas, Texas.

Yeah, I know, random, but me and my friend had a great time. But sheesh, it has just been so cold.

All of this cold weather has me doing one thing, and that is reading.

Whether it’s reading or writing, I just like consuming stories and/or making them.

When the weather is cold, it’s really the perfect time to just stay in and do some reading.

When I was young, I was never a fan of reading. I would love to read comic books, but reading was never really my thing.

But now, as an adult, haha, I can truly enjoy it and appreciate it. Books are wonderful, for tons of reasons.

They can transport us into entirely separate and new worlds. What better opportunity to go into a new world than if the world outside is cold and unwelcoming?

Open up a book and be transported into a brand new one. It’s fun, it’s comforting, and it’s exciting.

I feel like above all, that comfort is so important.

Many people struggle with mental health nowadays, and while there are tons of new ways to heal and deal with this, I believe all are valuable.

Books are super underrated nowadays I feel. I know tons of people who just mindlessly doom scroll before going to bed. I feel like everyone’s mental health would be better if they just picked up a book instead.

Give it a try, it might just make your night. 

*Written by Nicolas Scagnelli

Nick is a student and a writer at Binghamton University ’24. He has supported the military spouse community through his position with various non profits to include Defenders of Resilience. 

He can be reached at nicolasscagnelli@gmail.com or can be accessed through his Personal Blog or his Professional Blog