About

Who am I?

My name is Eric Matthew Winters. I am a library social worker at the local library in my hometown. I work with various individuals help find resources in the community. Connecting them to services that they may not be able to access otherwise. My life for the last 20+ years has always been oriented towards helping others in some meaningful way. At my core, I want to make the world a bit better for all of us, if I can do that.

Why “revitalization” in the title?

Merriam-Webster defines this word in the following way:

revitalization –

the act or an instance of bringing something back to life, public attention, or vigorous activity

For many years, I felt that I was not allowed to read books. That anytime I would read I would be punished in some way. This was directly due to childhood and even adult trauma that I received from individuals in my life every time I went to read. There will be posts about some of these various incidents and no I will not be “holding back”. I will be stepping into the truth and how I feel about certain things. I was often told that what I wanted to read wasn’t “good enough” or that I should be reading something other. I often tried to read things I did not want to read to make others feel like I was a “reader”. At one point, a person that should have cared for me, even took the time to tear down another blog that I had that was related to reading. They belittled my reading, instead of recognizing that reading should be fun and full of joy.

We shouldn’t tear others down for no good reason, especially in their reading. This blog is simply about bringing something back to life: my love of reading or maybe in a sense it is also about revitalization of me from a lifetime of other people telling me who to be. Now instead, I am learning to just be me. I am stepping into my own truths and loves. Part of that is sharing what I am reading, even if no one else ever sees my reviews I get to say to the world LOOK I AM READING WHAT I WANT and I am revitalizing myself. I am bringing myself back to life.