Hey everyone, I am so pleased to have a guest post today from a fantastic fellow blogger, Stephany, from Stephany Writes. I’ve really enjoyed reading Stephany’s blog because we have a lot in common with a love of reading, writing, and dogs while also being introverted and shy. We’ve also both dealt with anxiety and fitness journeys, and considering we almost have the same name… I’d say we’re quite similar and I’d love to be IRL friends. Stephany’s a fantastic writer and her blog is always so honest and open. Many times while reading her posts, I’m nodding my head and saying, “me too!” Please welcome Stephany here today as she shares some of her tips with us about reading.
Four Tips to Help You Reclaim Your Love of Reading
I can’t ever remember a time when reading wasn’t a huge part of my life. My life has always revolved around books and what I’m reading. When I was younger, Saturday mornings were meant for library visits. I would head over to my local library with my mom and take my time perusing the stacks until I found the 12 books I wanted to take home with me for the week.
Twelve was the limit I was allowed to loan from the children’s section of the library and I would read those books within a week and be back at the library the following Saturday for my next stack of books.
Nowadays, I can’t read 12 books a week but one of my worries when I was younger was that my love for reading would dissipate as I grew into new hobbies and likes. I worried that my days would get too busy and hectic for me to have time to read.
For many people my age, this is the case. They have become busy and reading is one of the first thing that goes when life gets insane.
For me, though, no matter how busy my life gets, reading is always one of my top priorities and while there are days when I can only manage 5-10 minutes of reading before bed, I still find time to read on a daily basis.
What’s my secret for reading more, even in the midst of a busy life? I want to give you four tips for reading more on a daily basis – but be forewarned, you have to want to read more because you love to read, not because you think you should read. If reading isn’t something that interests you a whole lot and being able to read just one book a month is amazing for you – that is totally and perfectly fine! Even though I couldn’t imagine a life without reading, I know it’s a passion and we don’t all share the same passions.
But if you really and truly want to read more because you miss the feeling of curling up with a good book and getting lost in an entirely different world, sit back and relax. Let’s dive into how you can read more on a daily basis:
1. Find books you love.
It’s so easy to get caught up in reading books everyone else is reading. We don’t want to miss out, so we read books that are most popular now even though they may not be the books that interest us. Love chick-lit? Read chick-lit! Don’t worry so much that other people think chick-lit is a silly genre, because it’s a booming industry and you are not alone at all in your love for it. Love YA lit? Read it! Who cares if the books are geared towards teenagers? If you love it, own it! For me, I love romance novels. Silly, cheesy, predictable, sometimes steamy romance novels. While I try to venture out and read novels in other genres, romance novels are the first books I choose when I just want to get completely lost in a story.
2. Set a goal.
It doesn’t have to be a “read X amount of books this year” goal. It can be as simple as reading for 15 minutes right before bed or taking on a reading challenge to read on a specific book list that interests you. I love, love, love setting reading goals and being able to mark them off. They are fun goals to achieve and I always feel good about myself. For example, last year, I made a goal of reading one nonfiction book a month. I read fiction way more than nonfiction and I knew I was missing out on some fabulous reads by sticking myself into a box. So every month, I would read one nonfiction book. Some were fabulous, some were hard to get through but it felt really good to check that goal off my list. By setting goals for reading, you’ll be much more apt to sit down with a book at the end of a busy day than turning on the TV.
3. Recognize that you deserve time to yourself.
I think this is one of the things so many of us struggle with. We forget that we deserve time to ourselves. We want to be busy and always on the go and always saying yes to people, but sometimes, we need to realize we deserve time away. We deserve to get lost in a book, we deserve just 15 minutes to relax our minds and let go. Even if your to-do list is a mile long or you’re desperate to clear your inbox or you just don’t think you have time, you do. It’s important to let go for a little while, because you will only burn out quicker when you don’t let yourself have time to yourself. Draw a hot bubble bath, pour a glass of wine, and spend just 20 minutes in the tub with a book. You deserve it.
4. My biggest secret to reading more: I’m usually reading more than one book at one time.
More often than not, I read multiple books at one time. For example, right now, I am involved in four different books. I’m reading a self-help book, a fiction novel, an audiobook, and a book for my Bible study. It may take me a bit longer to finish a book, but I end up reading more because I’m not sitting there with one book at a time. I like having options for what I want to read. Is the fiction book off to a slow start and I’m frustrated with the lack of plot? Put it down and read the self-help book for a chapter and come back to the fiction book afterward. And possibly I have reading ADD and can’t focus on just one story at one time. Right now, I’m reading more than usual but I absolutely love it and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Reading is a passion and after many years of hiding it because it wasn’t a “cool” passion to have, I’ve finally begun to embrace the fact that I am a bookworm to the max and reading is my happy place. I read a lot because I love to read and it fills me with so much joy. If you are struggling to find time to read, I hope my tips have sparked something in you to get to your library or local bookstore and reclaim that love again. You deserve it.
Thanks again to Stephany for being here today! Be sure to check out her blog!
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