11 Comforting Reasons Trustworthy People Always Carry An Emotional Support Book With Them
Sometimes, all you need is your favorite book by your side.
Inside Creative House | Shutterstock In a world that can feel quite chaotic and stressful, many people turn to the comforting things around them to help them cope with feelings of stress. For certain individuals, it means throwing their favorite book in their bag and going about their day. For trustworthy people, the support book is more of an emotional crutch than something they're actually planning on reading. Because they might find themselves juggling many responsibilities, the simple act of being able to open a book they're familiar with can help with their sense of peace and calmness.
No matter what situation they might find themselves in, there are comforting reasons trustworthy people always carry an emotional support book with them. A book not only helps them reset and come back to themselves with a clearer mind, it gives them a sense of reassurance that, wherever they go, they'll have those familiar words on the page to make them feel like they're at home. Considering books are really just this little escape, being able to flip a page on the go and immediately calm your racing heart can offer stability.
Here are 11 comforting reasons trustworthy people always carry an emotional support book with them
1. Instant stress relief
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Sometimes, life has a way of hitting you all at once, whether you have work emails piling up in your inbox, all of these professional deadlines looming in the distance, or just a million and one worries going through your mind. In those moments, it can feel as if you're losing before you've even started.
For trustworthy people, having their emotional support book on them can come in handy during those really stressful moments in life. A 2024 study published in the American Journal of Health Behavior even found that reading can help improve your emotional state and even help alleviate work stress.
But you don't even have to commit to reading the entire book, either. Just flipping to your favorite chapter or part of the book can help ease your troubles and bring you back down to Earth. You can open your book anywhere, too — on the train, bus, while you're waiting, or even at your favorite coffee shop.
Even just the act of holding the book can bring comfort to people when you might be feeling too overwhelmed to dedicate your time to doing anything else.
2. Invites curiosity
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One of the most comforting reasons trustworthy people always carry an emotional support book with them is because it's a natural way to stoke your curiosity. People who enjoy reading tend to also be people that prioritize learning and gaining new information. Books are a reminder that there's so much left to explore and new perspectives to understand.
You might finish a chapter and then immediately turn to Google to look deeper in a topic that the author was talking about on the page. Or, you might just start asking deeper questions during conversations because your curiosity was sparked while reading. Whatever the case may be, having that level of curiosity can help you just be a better person overall.
3. Emotional validation
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For trustworthy people, their emotional support book can be the answer to their problems, especially when it comes to not knowing how to address their feelings. Reading a passage can instantly soothe their worries and influx of emotions. It's as if the book is simply letting them know that what they're feeling is more than valid and that they're not alone.
According to author and psychologist Keith Oatley, reading narratives allows us to "simulate" a social world where we identify with characters and their struggles, and observe their way of solving conflicts. That way, we're able to process emotional content and even solve life's problems.
You don't just need to seek validation from other people, but it can also come from words as well. When you see your feelings reflected back at you from a passage or quote from a character in your comfort book, it almost gives your brain permission to acknowledge them.
Books are just powerful in that way. They never make you feel shame for feeling the way you feel.
4. Offers a sense of control
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Considering how unpredictable life can feel, even the most grounded individuals need moments where they can feel as if things are not completely out of their hands. That's why trustworthy people may find comfort in carrying around a book they might have read thousands of times but still find joy in.
When the world might end up spinning way too fast and things feel as if they're just slipping through their fingers, being able to read that familiar book can help put a pause on all of that. There's just something incredibly comforting about knowing what will happen next.
You might not necessarily be able to control what's happening in your personal life, but in that book, you can have a bit more control over how you're spending your time.
5. Encouragement
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An emotional support book is often such a huge comfort to trustworthy people, so much so that they feel as if the characters and words on the page are their biggest cheerleader. Reading their favorite passage can often be the words that remind them how capable and resilient they are without having to hear it from an actual person.
Books have a way of really uplifting you and remind you that you can get through life even if it might feel like you might not. You don't have to wait for someone in your life to notice that you might be struggling, either. All you have to do is open the book that always makes you feel like you're being enveloped in a warm hug, and suddenly you find that you have the strength to carry on.
6. Source of inspiration
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Sometimes, a book can also just be a source of inspiration, which is another of the comforting reasons trustworthy people always carry an emotional support book with them. It can help spark some sort of creativity and give you the nudge that you're looking for when everything else might feel incredibly heavy.
Books in themselves are often full of inspiration. Whether it's someone overcoming a challenge that's been in their way for some time, or a quick sentence that has you suddenly reflecting on life and ignites this spark that you didn't even know existed.
"The source of human intelligence is what we would call story or narrative, our ability to plan or plot, to come up with innovative answers to problems," says story scientist Angus Fletcher. "The human brain is able to say, 'I want to start a company. I want to build something. I want to imagine a new political movement.' Computers can't do that. Stories activate anything your brain can do."
It can really end up pushing you to tackle your problems with a fresh perspective. You don't even have to wait for the moment that someone can give you the advice you need for yourself. By carrying around your comfort book, you can end up just creating that moment for yourself with the words on the page.
7. Personal reflection
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One of the best things about trustworthy people carrying around an emotional support book is how it allows them to just slow down and really think. Books have a way of holding up a mirror to what you might be going through without making you feel uncomfortable about it in any way. You might read something about your comfort character going through a particularly turbulent time in their story, and suddenly you start thinking of your own struggles.
"Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of a larger human experience," explained child and family therapist Heather Rose Artushin.
It might give you the necessary push to confront something and even just connect the dots on what's going on in your own life. That's why books have the power to help you self-reflect, especially when you might not even know where to start.
The more you're able to understand your thoughts, the more intentional you can be about responding to things happening around you. And sometimes, that comes from picking up a book that brings you comfort and joy.
8. Provides companionship
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There's something extremely special about having a comforting book that can feel as if you're just carrying a friend around you at all times. That kind of company can often be taken for granted, but a good book is just as valuable as your best friend sometimes. For trustworthy people, they're all about forming deep connections, even with inanimate objects like books.
Whether you're sitting alone in a cafe or winding down in your bed at night, being able to open your favorite book makes you feel less alone. The characters on the page have a way of coming alive in a way that brings you the kind of comfort that you can't get anywhere else.
Having that comforting book by your side means you don't have to feel lonely as long as you have words and a story that understands you in that moment.
9. Helps with feeling anxious
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When your heart is racing and it feels like you can't even quiet your mind, having your comfort book in your bag is the best solution. It's not about trying to escape your feelings, but instead about being able to give your anxious mind something safe and steady to hold onto.
When things feel uncertain, sometimes a book that you're familiar with can help you slow down enough to stop your brain from spinning out of control. Research has found that even reading for as little as six minutes a day can decrease stress levels by 60% by reducing your heart rate, easing muscle tension and altering your state of mind.
It allows you to take a deep breath and really focus on each word at a time on the page. Trustworthy people enjoy having this emotional support around because instead of just pushing down the feelings of anxiety, reading can help them reach for something else to help calm their thoughts that isn't destructive or makes things worse.
10. Conversation starter
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Sometimes, carrying around a comforting book can also help spark conversation with strangers and be a tool to help become more social while out in public by yourself. For trustworthy people, they can stay connected with others by being able to connect over their favorite book. It's usually an easy enough icebreaker, too.
Someone might spot the title and immediately become intrigued enough to ask if you like it, or maybe they've even read it themselves. And suddenly, you're able to connect with other people on your favorite thing. These organic connections that happen in public mean a lot to these individuals because they're not just having forced small talk but actually engaging in real and meaningful conversation.
11. Safe escape from drama
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For trustworthy people who value peace, having their emotional support book on their person can end up being the perfect excuse to step back from all of the drama in their lives. When they don't want to offer an explanation or even just confront someone, they can retreat to a quiet corner and be with the book that gives them a sense of ease.
"From my neuroscience background and studies that I've done, I can see how literature's inventions plug into different regions of our brain, to make us less lonely or help us build up our courage or do a variety of other things to help us. Every story is different and is, in effect, a different tool," Fletcher pointed out.
Instead of getting caught up in the arguing and gossip that might be around you, you can just spend that time getting caught up in the drama that exists on the page. Books also just allow you to slow down. You don't need to get caught up in business that might not concern you, and so to protect your energy, you have a book with you that allows you to stick to yourself.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
