Written by contributor Cielo B
Have you struggled to make real life connections with other people, and don’t know anyone to share your love for books with? Then joining a book club might be the best choice you can make, because it certainly was for me! Today I want to talk about my experience at being a reader with social anxiety, how I’ve dealt with it, and how book clubs and the book internet community have helped me with that.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve struggled with talking with other people. It’s something I’ve carried with me for ages, and it’s always frustrated me how the smallest things can turn out to be so difficult for me, just as simple as making small talk. Being forced to talk in public for any reason makes me feel emotionally and physically sick, so yes, I have very few real life friends. Only one of them shares my love for books, and we don’t even like the same genres. So yes, sharing my love for the books I read turned out to be quite difficult at the beginning, and it was a hobby I kept to myself.
Recently, I discovered Book Twitter to be an actual thing. I can totally recommend joining Book Twitter by following book bloggers, booktubers, and bookstagrammers, and just about anyone that might share the same bookish interests as you. This was the first step I took into being able to talk with other people about the books I liked, the characters I fangirled about, and the upcoming releases that excited me.
The truth is, interacting with people behind a screen is way easier for me. When talking to people in person, I usually go “oh lord, anything that comes from my mouth will be totally unnecessary and dumb, so it’s better if I don’t”. Having the chance to think and read what I want to say before I do makes me feel more at ease before I send the message. Also, having the certainty that these people share my same interests reassures me that I won’t weird them out with my fangirling.
A couple months after joining Book Twitter I discovered some amazing book clubs and decided to join a few, and I’d say it’s done wonders to my social anxiety because even if I’m not actually talking to anyone in person, I’m making a connection to someone I can relate to for several reasons, all while helping to grow my love for literature. Book clubs are more than they seem, and they give you enough freedom to talk about different topics within the bookish community and even topics that aren’t related to books. The book internet community is so kind, and I think that even those that like me have some doubts about interacting with its users will find themselves feeling welcome in.
Being able to talk with other book lovers all over the world through book clubs has helped me stop shutting everyone off, as I often tend to do because I think I won’t have any interesting things to say. It has made me learn that reading doesn’t have to be a solitary activity, that there’s more to it than just diving into a book and then to another nonstop, without stepping back and analyse it with someone else. I feel like book clubs and book internet in general has so much to offer, so I encourage everyone that might feel a little scared to join and start interacting to stop giving it so much thought and do it, because it’s totally worth it.
