I used to love reading. I can’t even count how many summer days I spent reading about the unicorns and dragons in a magical land far away, or the nail-biting murder mysteries that got solved in the nick of time, or even the choose-your-own-adventure books, where I would cheat and read all the outcomes and decide which one I liked best. I would secretly hide under my covers in bed with a flashlight and my current read, staying awake long into the night just to get in a few more chapters. It was a way to escape reality, to indulge in the creativity of others, and to let my own imagination run wild and free.
Then this thing called life happened. You know, homework, responsibilities, being social… (which believe it or not, that can be somewhat of a chore for an introvert like me). I’m sad to say I can hardly remember the last time I read a book just for myself. Of course I’ve done a lot of reading for school, but that doesn’t really count. I mean, who wants to read about all that intellectual stuff anyways, right? (Ok, ok, maybe I’ve enjoyed some of it. Just don’t tell my profs.) My point is, I’m done with the excuses. There will ALWAYS be a reason not to sit down and read. That assignment to finish, this errand to run, that room to clean. But that’s no way to live. Life is too short to skip out on the little things you love. So I’m going back to the books. Maybe not back to dragons and unicorns, per say. Just… back to the thing that makes me feel happy and carefree, that can take me away from daily stresses and satisfy my inspirational and motivational cravings.
I hope you will, too.
2 Comments
I hear that. I’ve bought a ton of books in the last five years… and I’ve probably read only a few of them– the really short reads. Last time I read a whole book cover to cover purely for entertainment was in 2004, I read The Da Vinci Code because everyone else that was working convention had read it and it was hard to be conversational without having read it, haha. So I read it in my hotel room over the course of a couple nights, and it was a blast. So need to do that more.
(One of my prof’s a couple years back said that if you had read an entire book in the last year, you were one of the most literate people in America. How sad is that?)
yay books! i am border line obsessed with reading anything…so let me know if you read anything good!