Has there ever been something in your life that has so utterly blown you away or changed your life in a specific way? Have you ever looked around, seen beauty, or heard something wonderful, even smelled something truly terrific? There must be some definitive moment in everyone’s life when something takes a turn. I’m sure of it. I think it might be hard for some people to see, or strange for others to believe, but there’s no doubt in my mind that everyone experiences these moments.

It could be a great book, or a new song you’ve never heard before, or maybe even something old, that isn’t foreign to you, but now you’re seeing it in a new light for whatever reason. For me, this turnaround moment was reading The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. After finishing the last page, putting the book down, and crying my eyes out, something changed. It might even have been before that, in the middle of the book, while I was frantically thumbing through the pages, willing my eyes to move faster so I could find out what happened to the characters I’d come to love so much. Whenever it’s magic actually took hold, the book turned me into a different person.

I had been having a lot of trouble. I was struggling with a few things in my life, and a lot of things were making life hard for me. There was too much for me to deal with at times, and I kept looking for an escape. The funny thing about escape routes is that they’re never where you’re looking for them. They’re that random back alley that you didn’t know existed or the fire escape you always took for granted. I wasn’t looking for an escape through TFIOS, but I found it there.