Law Faculty

Department of Jurisprudence

Seminar Paper
“READING IS ART, RELIEVES STRESS AND REDUCES
DEPRESSION”

English 1

Mentor: Candidate:

Prof. Dr. Lutfije Çota. Bsc. Zimrisha Kupa.

As. Reis Kerim.
 What would you say to me today, if you knew I wouldn't be here tomorrow?

The question we never know the answer to is this one...

Not because we don't know what to say but because there are so many things that
complicate our brain, we lose focus and let go of what we need to truly hold on to. We don't
understand how deep a person’s psychology can go, until we see them laying in a casket as a
result of depression and stress and what is real depressive here, is that we never understand, or at
least we never try to understand someone who is in need of help, it is true that words hurt but
many times they also heal!

I have heard people say depression is not real, I have heard people say stress is just an
excuse of weakness, which is totally wrong because the strongest people out there are the ones
who are or have been depressed and stressed, for example Justin Bieber, he is a really famous
and successful celebrity, a loved and talented singer, a model too but he went through depression
and stress and fought what not, people never believed him, they always said that he is doing it for
fame, until he finally broke the silence, spoke up and said "No fame for me could ever be more
important than a book that helped me get through of what people never understood, no money
can ever come in the way of mental health, depression is real and it is very dark, stress is
unbearable sometimes and people never understand how much words mean, sometimes they hurt
but they can also heal, if you can't heal someone, just please don't be a thorn" [ CITATION Bie19 \l
1033 ]. So instead of coming up with reasons for why depression and stress are just a "state of
mind people put themselves into", I would say let's be a helping hand, a spotlight on the darkness
for the people in need, I am saying this because I myself know how deep and dark depression
can get and how horrible stress is and what helped me and still helps are books!

Reading is truly a sophisticated form art that is rarely understood, I say this and I deeply
believe in it because of my own experiences, no one cared that I was depressed, no one cared that
I was stressed and even though there is times I still am, I now don't care that I don't have no one
close to me, in fact I have the most priceless thing in the world, I have books, I have art in my
hands, plus I am the one that can create art too, this all came to me as a gift from depression,
stress and anxiety and formed words to me, not for me to keep, but for me to work with them and

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show the reality to a reader, what irony and sarcasm has to say, what melancholy can form.
Simply, what kind of a beauty a book can hold.

I never knew how important reading actually is, it plays a significant role in our lives,
now I understand why they say "When you open a book, you open a new world" and this quote
itself explains why reading is art, why it helps reduce depression and relieve stress, a book is like
a best friend who will never walk away from you. One can read about anything under the sun
and the art here stands in that that no matter what the book truly says, it still makes you read
what you need to hear, whatever you are looking for, you will find it in the verses you will read!
Do you know how a person can become an author? It is really simple but real brutal actually,
let's take as an example a few remarkable authors like Mark Twain, Stephen King, John Green,
Sylvia Plath, Jay Asher and so on, although all of these authors gave us beautiful literature, they
all had dark and deep stages in their lives that they went through. When John Green was asked
how did he manage to fight them, he simply said "Reading... reading is the only thing that can
heal, this is a stated fact that I myself am proof of and when I read I was ready to write, I no
longer held into me what was victimizing and hurting and slowly drowning me, instead I wrote
and turned it into art for someone else to read, with the only hope that they will heal, no one is
born as an author, authors are the insane people who survive what cannot be survived, the inner
tension gets relieved and the inner voice gets the turn to speak up, even in verses, it is the best
way, that I hope no one else needs to follow!" [ CITATION Gre12 \l 1033 ].

From here, we can simply see that even famous people know that depression and stress
are really hard to cope with but reading is the only thing that can actually help and nothing else. I
here for speak for myself, I myself am a writer but writing didn't help me reduce my depression
and relieve the horrible stress, firstly it was reading that did, I read a lot of books, no one helped
me like the book of my favorite author, I have only three favorite authors, two of them don't live
anymore but one does and not only did he help me with his writings, he also helped me by being
there, the authors I am referring to are Lasgush Poradeci, Dritëro Agolli and my most favorite
out of three and the most remarkable author, that helped me with everything I was and am going
through is Dorian Leka! So please, if you ever get into these dark places just find yourself into
books, read as much as you can, it will never harm you for it only will help you grow and please
if you can't help someone heal their wounds, don't open them wider...!

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