I'm Jana, mid 30's, and I read every single day — though it almost never turned out that way.
When I was Harry's age, my mom read me all the Harry Potter books out loud. That was the first time I experienced how a book can completely pull you in, until you lose track of time. After that, reading became my favorite way to discover new worlds, see myself reflected in the characters, and find answers to questions that had been on my mind for a long time.
Over the years, through school, that changed, and reading turned more and more into an obligation. Classics like Michael Kohlhaas (a German literary classic often assigned in school) had me wondering if something was wrong with me, because I couldn't relate to them, appreciate them, or interpret them "correctly." In college, I only read textbooks and assigned material as a means to an end. At some point, reading disappeared from my life entirely. On my endless to-do list, it just stopped being a priority, because it felt unproductive. It became one more thing I "couldn't get to." My head was already full, my attention scattered, and by the evening my mental capacity just wasn't enough for anything beyond social media or Netflix.
Then it hit me how paradoxical that was: in a world constantly fighting for our attention, I had neglected the one thing that actually gave me focus and clarity. And apparently I'm not alone in this — according to the World Culture Score Index, average daily reading time worldwide was around 35 to 40 minutes in the early 2000s; today it's under 20 minutes. Meanwhile, research from the University of Sussex shows that just six minutes of reading can lower stress levels by up to 68 percent.
That's why I started Elephant Lines (ELI). The name is inspired by the drawing from The Little Prince, where grown-ups only see a hat, but children recognize the elephant inside the snake. For me, that was one of the biggest "aha" moments on my own reading journey — and a memory I cherish, the kind I hope you'll experience often too, in your own life.
At the same time, the outline of that elephant in The Little Prince also stands for exactly that moment of pausing and rediscovering, something reading can nurture so well — when you learn to really look again, and set your focus clearly on what matters.
ELI started as my personal search for mental clarity and more depth in my life, but also as a quiet form of rebellion. I firmly believe that books help us live more fully, meet ourselves more honestly, and bring more emotional intelligence and mental clarity back into the world.
That's what I wish for all of us.
The thinking behind Elephant Lines, the drawing behind the name, and the products being built on it.