I Have 4,000 Books Left to Read Before I Die

Since 2010, I’ve read exactly 992 books. If it takes me almost fifteen years to read a thousand, I optimistically have another 4,000 books ahead of me in my lifetime. The first time someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I answered, “I want to be happy,” which both is and isn’t what you’d hope a five-year-old to answer. My elementary school peers at the time understood the “actual” question being asked, choosing from age-appropriate aspirations and careers, but for years I would feel like I was misunderstanding the subtext of what everyone else wanted to hear. Like many children, I would begin building my sense of identity not just through these interactions, but through all of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/education/blog/the-importance-of-windows-and-mirrors-in-stories" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">the windows and mirrors given to me by teachers, mentors, and librarians.</a> By puberty, my classmates and I were struggling not just with what we wanted to be, but who. How would I define myself to others? In how many variations would people ask me: “Who are you?” Q: What do you want to be when you grow up? A: I want to be: happy, a teacher, a veterinarian, a marine biologist, an author, a zoologist, a translator, a journalist, a writer, a professor, a poet, happy, happy, happy <a href="https://medium.com/the-narrative-arc/i-have-4-000-books-left-to-read-before-i-die-5dfe90abd3ba">Read More</a>