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Realizing it's an old thread but I'll chime in as well for anyone looking for advice on this. I never fully fell off the reading train, but I absolutely would barely get reading done. What flipped the switch for me this year was I finally quit Twitter, I realized it was making me anxious and miserable and destroying my brain so I deleted the app from my phone and threw myself into reading instead, forcing myself to pick up a book anytime I would go for Twitter and reading for a few minutes instead. So from January to May this year I finished 11 books. Since June I've finished 32, including a mix of short 1-2 sitting reads and a couple long tomes like Brothers Karamazov. I realize this is a bit of a humblebrag but my point is that it's not actually hard to do if you commit. (Side note, I also have ADHD and take meds, but even then I didn't magically start reading regularly until I forced myself to this summer). 1. You don't need to sit and read for an hour at a time if that doesn't work for you. Just try to read in 10-15 minute chunks throughout the day, whenever you get a chance. I think a lot of people assume reading means spending hours in one place reading all at once, it doesn't have to. 2. Remember there's no test at the end. Didn't get something? Worried you misunderstood a point? So what? You can go back and reread obviously if it's affecting your enjoyment of the story or you got your facts totally wrong, but don't stress out about memorizing and absorbing every single piece of the text. At first you might really struggle to actually absorb much of anything, but reading is a muscle and if you just commit yourself to keep going it will start clicking and you won't have to even think about it anymore. 3. Trouble reading before bed because you get tired? Read right when you wake up! Presuming your schedule allows for that. I get way more reading done first thing in the morning over coffee and then trying to pick my book up throughout the day, either on work breaks or after work. Sometimes I read before going to sleep, but often I'm too tired at that point. I realize not everyone has a job that allows for that, but find the time that is best for you. 4. You absolutely have time to read. One of the top excuses you hear from people. If you have time to post on forums, use social media, play video games, whatever else it is you do, then you have the time to read. Find whatever it is in your day to day that's not an obligation and you enjoy the least and carve a little time out of that. Spend three hours a night gaming? Start a half hour later than you normally would and read for a bit first (again, try to prioritize reading earlier rather than later if you get too tired). I won't presume to know other people's relationships with social media, but there's a good chance if you're on it then you're on it way too much. Pull away, challenge yourself to read a book for five minutes instead, and see how it goes from there. 5. Antsy? I probably drive my partner crazy but I will pace while I read, or I'll read on the exercise bike. I find that moving while reading does slow my actual reading speed, but I'm too high wired. I definitely can sit or lie down and read, but I start getting antsy and feel the need to move. I don't know how common this is, and I know a lot of people absolutely can't read and exercise at the same time. But again, if you think it might work for you give it a try. Anyway, hope that didn't come off as smug or too long. Just my tips, on top of a lot of the other good advice people have given like starting with shorter books, allowing yourself to read multiple books at a time, and personally I say go with a mix of an ereader and physical books because both have their advantages. TrixRabbi fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Sep 22, 2022 |
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Sep 22, 2022 15:15
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Vienna Circlejerk posted:This is good advice for just about anything but now that I think about the timing, giving up Twitter is probably part of what got me reading again too, in addition to just overall being less miserable and angry all the time. It's really an astonishing invention, something that makes people addicted to making themselves miserable. Opening it up every day was like getting punched in the face. I'd actually be feeling pretty decent, then I'd check Twitter for 10 minutes and feel like the world is ending. Cutting it out was the best decision I've made in years for my own health.
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Sep 22, 2022 17:09
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