This may sound like a cliche. And it is. "[Insert word/activity] changed me." But that doesn't mean that this phrase doesn't hold ground when it comes to important items or activities in your life.
For me, reading has "changed" me quite a bit. I put changed in quotations because I don't think reading has changed me in the traditional meaning of the word "change."
Reading has changed me in the sense that, as I grow older and read more, my curiosity only increases. It's also changed me in the sense that I feel like I have an entire world open to me, at my disposal. And in Covid, quarantine times, reading has definitely helped me "go places" while at home. Reading history books - the Tudors, Ancient Egypt, world history, etc. - has also changed me. It's helped me to understand history in relation to today. It's also humbled me quite a bit.
So, for me at least, reading hasn't so much "changed" me. There are a lot of things that factor into who I am. As a result, as much as it pains me to say this, reading is simply one factor in what makes me "me." I guess that means it's more helped me rather than changed me.
