Literacy has the power to change your viewpoint on almost any standpoint or idea. As a young writer and novelist, fictional stories, either realistic or scientific, have helped build my awareness of social issues. Mental health is one of those social issues that has always affected people in our community. But one of the extraordinary aspects of mental health issues is how it can be viewed in different social lenses, depending on how others perceive those people struggling with mental health problems.  One of my favorite books that I continuously look back on is called The Perks Of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

To summarize, the book follows a high school adolescent with PTSD and depression from an abusive childhood. Throughout most of the story, all the main character Charlie tries to do is fit in and find his place in the world while battling with this mental illness that tries to isolate him from others and makes it harder for him to make friends and find love. Now this book may not affect everyone the same way, but it did change how I process social issues like mental health slightly. The reason I resonated with this book is that in some ways I could relate to this introverted yet interesting character that the author has created. 

As a person that also suffered from mental health problems, I see the world through a different lens from how other people do. These metaphorical lenses that I created caused me to lose confidence in myself. Part of me hated myself because everything anything I did, weird or abnormal, made me feel disgusted with myself. I had a hard time fitting in, and learning how to be social. But then I picked up reading a bit more. As I got older and wanted to learn more about the world, books like these just flicked a switch in my head. Seeing this kid fight for friends and the love of his life in ways that only he knew he could become inspirational. At the end of Perks of Being a Wallflower, I and Charlie both realized that the way we see the world isn’t a bad thing. It may sound cliche but being unique and seeing the world through our eyes is not just black and white. Literacy has taught me that it’s okay to be different and that the way we live doesn’t have to be conventional in the slightest.

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