As a child, some of my fondest memories revolved around books and reading. When I was a small child, my mom would read me a bedtime story every night, which translated into us exploring various novels together as I got older. She fostered my love of reading and introduced me to many of the interest that I was connected to as a child such as Harry Potter and fantasy novels.
Outside of just loving to read, books and reading, were a huge part of my schedule and routine as a kid. My mom was a kindergarten teacher, so in the summer when she had time off, we would go to the library and be part of the summer reading club. Every Friday throughout the entire year we would go to the library to get big bags of books and then head to piano lessons. This is a routine that lasted probably until I graduated high school and moved to University.
And then, as I’m sure other people experience well, I dove into my formal post high school education which changed my view on reading. For the first four year bachelors degree, I was drowned in hundreds of pages of assigned reading that as a person who takes a long time to process written information, was a nightmare. I almost never did my readings completely because of the lengthily requirements, and I pushed books away as much as possible. The years between my degrees, I was surrounded by people who loved self help books and I got caught up in the idea that adults need to read specific styles of books. As I got into my masters’ degree, the two years flew by with another battle to complete assigned readings and then separate myself from brain work on my time off. I guess you could say that for a full 10 years of my life I lost the love of reading that my mom had worked so hard to foster in me.
And then there was a shift
With the help of my wife (yes we’re finally married!), I started changing the way I saw reading as an adult. I started reading young adult fiction and remembered how I could get sucked into a book and lose track of time. From there I remembered you can stop reading a book if you don’t like it, and that you don’t need to retain the plot of a book when you’re reading for fun! Even reading books for learning has changed in my eyes!
Most importantly, I’ve started seeing reading as self care and enjoyment that deserves to be part of my day, rather than squeezing it into my day if I have time. Reading has become once again one of my meaningful occupations !
So why do I bother to write this? I feel like so many of my friends have started reading again and making time because they WANT to. And because they feel like they can. So you can too! Take the time to explore different genres and make time to read when you’re enjoying it and not exhausted ready for bed! Perhaps download an app like Goodreads that you can track your books and share with your friends! And finally, take the pressure off yourself to have a purpose for reading. Just like we let ourselves watch trashy tv or feel good movies; don’t make yourself read self help or dense classics just because you think you need to as an adult! Pick up a trashy love story or a “beach read” or a murder book. Go back and re-read the books you loved as a teenager or pick up a graphic novel (those are still books! Good to remember if you’re trying to encourage your kids to try to get into reading!)
Let’s make this year about accepting you can do things JUST for enjoyment and not to move you further along in your career, your self development and life!
Feel free to share any favourite books in the comments!! My favourite lately was The Silent Patient which had lots of twists and turns!
Be Your Own Sunshine 