That's me reading on my Kindle
This is the case of my Kindle. I will write a different post about buying a Kindle to support my reading goals.
As a kid, I've never been an avid fan of reading. I don't remember spending my childhood days buried in books. What I do remember is that I had a lot of free time to myself. I played with other kids but I found that I also enjoyed spending time alone. Our family was not really into reading. We didn't have a lot of books kids would pick up and enjoy. It didn't help that my parents didn't encourage us to read novels. And so I grew up not knowing the joy of reading.
It wasn't until high school that I realized that reading books was enjoyable. What ushered me into the wonderful world of books was a mistakenly downloaded ebook on my phone. It was Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley and I downloaded it because I thought it was a game. When I opened it, I saw words on my phone and realized what it was. I still enjoyed time by myself and so I decided to give the ebook a go. I breezed through it and found that the story was silly and childish. I realized that the book was written for teenage girls. I wondered if there were better books out there.
And so it began. I downloaded countless ebooks on my phone and I would read each one for hours and even until the break of dawn. I read many young adult books and fantasy novels like The Hunger Games, Twilight, Harry Potter, Divergent, Delirium, The Mortal Instruments, Vampire Academy, Lorien Legacies, Darkest Powers, Percy Jackson, The Maze Runner, John Green Books, and so much more. I can't even remember some of the books I've read. But what I do remember is that I had so much time and energy to consume those books.
Looking back, I realized that reading books was sort of escapism for me. I wanted to escape the world I was in by entering the worlds in the books I read. They were exciting, fun, and enjoyable. I wasn't antisocial as an adolescent but I only had a few close friends and I also didn't spend a lot of time with them.
I entered college and met friends who also enjoyed reading. And reading became not just about me. It became a social avenue. Reading was as much enjoyable as discussing it with another person. I traded books and book recommendations. I anticipated how my friend would react to a book I've read before.
And then something changed and I stopped reading altogether.
Well, maybe not zero. I think two or three in a span of 5 years. College caught up. Most of my time was spent studying and doing school work. I had so many friends from my school organization and I spent a lot of my time with them. I needed to study and I enjoyed being with my friends. There was no more need for an escape and I had responsibilities to face at school. I think those were the reasons why I started to drift away from reading books.
And then I graduated from college and you'd think I would have some time to get back to reading again. I tried to but it was difficult. There was Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube that I choose to spend my time on. They filled my free time and I thought social media was enjoyable. Reading books require focus and attention and during these years, it was difficult not to be distracted. But I was slowly wondering how I was able to spend so much time and energy reading books when I was younger.
The last book I read during this period was Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I was curious about that book because, in the workplace, a lot of people were reading it. We had seminars and workshops based on it and it was always sold out in bookstores. By this time, I didn't want to read ebooks using my phone because I thought there was so much distraction that it was difficult to finish. We had a library at our company where could borrow books from and one of my friends at work borrowed 7 Habits. I asked him to let me read it first and that I'd return it immediately once I'm done.
That book was an eye-opener. Instead of bringing me to a different world, the book brought me to a sea full of knowledge that I could make use of in the real world. And that book brought me back the joy of reading.
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At the start of 2020, I decided to get back to reading not because I wanted to escape my world but because I wanted to know how to live better in the world and the time that I'm in. One of the Christmas gifts I received in 2019 was The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, a sort of sequel to The 7 Habits. It was the first book I finished in 2020. The next one was Inspired People Produce Results: How Great Leaders Use Passion, Purpose and Principles to Unlock Incredible Growth. It was one of the books I bought from the Big Bad Wolf, a huge book fair that visits the country once or twice a year bringing with them a wide selection of books at discounted prices.
The pandemic hit and one of the books in the house was Little Women. I shed a few tears reading that. News about the prequel to The Hunger Games came out and I immediately read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes when it came out.
Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life was very popular during the onset of the pandemic and so I decided to give it a chance despite the dramatic title.
One of my most favorite reads is Jim Kwik's Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life because I learned speed reading from that book.
The last book I read in 2020 was The Art Of War which was a very difficult read and I had to turn off my speed reading to better understand it.
Seven books in a year. Not bad. But I knew I could do more. The pandemic wasn't over and I had just learned speed reading. There were certain topics I wanted to learn about.
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At the start of 2021, I listed down the first few books that I wanted to read. The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX): Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals was a revered reference material in my workplace. Everyone learned about 4DX and was setting up their Wildly Important Goals (WIG) before I left the company. I read the book to set up my own WIG for the year.
The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity was a recommendation from @patsitivity and she let me borrow a physical copy of it. Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning was added on my list because of how The 7 Habits referenced the book in its introduction.
The TV Series was quite popular with some of my friends and so I decided to read The Handmaid's Tale.
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones was one of the very popular books of this year and it's also a recommendation from Limitless.
I heard about Jay Shetty's Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day in one of the podcasts I listen to. He was a guest and he shared about his book which got me interested.
Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, and Other Everyday Hurts was something I had to read when I first saw the title. The Magic of Thinking Big was another recommendation from the previous books I'v read.
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights was a book I've wanted to read since high school but found that the English was quite difficult for me back then.
A Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994 and Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography were the biography books I wanted to read this year. They were the first biography books I've ever read and I really enjoyed them.
I've always wanted to have a solid morning routine and to wake up at 5 in the morning. Reading Robin Sharma's The 5 AM Club extremely helped me to wake up at 5 AM for the past few months.
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World was a recommendation by @macchiata. Lastly, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance was a book I was supposed to borrow (physical copy) from a friend although I decided to just download the ebook and read it because I was so excited to read it on my newly bought Kindle.
My discovery of the joy of reading came by accident. But it came at a time when I needed it. Rediscovering it was intentional and purposeful but it also come at a time when I needed it. I rediscovered the joy of reading by having a reason to read books and decided that I will be reading as many books as I can with the time that I have.
Here's how I did it:
I started with a book that I really wanted to read. I was quite sure that The 7 Habits was going to be worth my time. Its topic interested me from what I've heard about it.
I set a goal on how many books I'd like to read in a year. At the start of 2020 and 2021, I put into writing the number of books I wanted to read. Then, I'd check my progress towards my goal each month.
I listed down the books I wanted to read. This one can be tricky as I almost fell into the trap of wanting to read so many books. I stopped myself and only listed down about half of the books that I wanted to read and I added more as I finished a few on the list and discovered some books or recommendations that interested me.
I read every day. I set up reading time every morning. It can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as one hour. Reading every day keeps the momentum and creates it into a habit. I have more time available, I read during lunch and before sleeping.
I mostly read ebooks. I've grown used to reading ebooks. I bring my phone with me almost anywhere and when I have free time, I can open my book and read it. Ebooks are convenient. Also when I read, I make sure that I don't get distracted by other apps on my phone. My notifications from my social apps are turned off. Most ebook readers on phones can compile notes and highlights which helps me when I'm reviewing the highlights of a book.
I practice speed reading. Ever since I picked up the skill, it has immensely helped me finish reading books more quickly. I set and adjust my pace based on how busy I think I will be when I'm reading a particular book. Knowing my pace also tells me the realistic time it will take me to finish one book.
I have a checklist of the books I've read. It's so satisfying when I check a book on my list after reading it. It motivates me to continue reading more books and gives me a sense of pride that I've read a number of books already. Having a Goodreads account makes this easy but I use a simple checklist on my Google Keep app. Another thing I do is to write about the books I've read. I have a few book reviews here in Hive. It's a way for me to solidify my accomplishment and my major takeaways from the book.
These are the things that I did that made me rediscover the joy of reading. Just like any non-fiction book I read, I take what I need and leave the rest. If there are things that resonate with you or you think might work for you, go ahead and try them.
I know people who declare that reading is not for them. They say they don't like to read because they don't have the time, it's a bore, or that they're just not interested.
But there are also people I know that said they learned to love reading books because of what I've shared with them. I can't convince everyone to read. What I can only do is to share the joy I feel when I'm absorbed in the pages of an interesting book.
There are so many stories and so much knowledge that we can get and learn from all the books out there. It's just a matter of reaching to them and deciding to open their pages.
We grow by the experiences we have and the choices we make but others have had their fair share of learning that they've put into words. And we can use that learning to maximize our growth or to hear their stories and be moved and entertained.
That's it! I hope you got something out of this post and I beam with pride as I look at the books I've read on this post. Make sure to celebrate your wins and achievements. Document them on your Hive posts. Publish them here in the Personal Development community. They will be much appreciated.
See you in the next post. Cheers!
Cover image created using Canva.com.
Images of the book covers were taken from the following links:
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
Inspired People Produce Results: How Great Leaders Use Passion, Purpose and Principles to Unlock Incredible Growth
Little Women
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel)
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life (Mark Manson Collection Book 1)
Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life
The Art Of War
The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals
The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity
Man's Search for Meaning
The Handmaid's Tale
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day
Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, and Other Everyday Hurts
The Magic of Thinking Big
Wuthering Heights (Penguin Classics)
A Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994
5 AM Club, The: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life.
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
omg im jelly. i have so many ebooks downloaded but I really want paperback/physical books and cant even start cause i havent bought yet the self dev books I like lol 🤣 okay im inspired again to read. brb hehehe
Having too many options available for you makes it more difficult to choose which one to start with. 😅 You can order your books online. Good luck! 😊
i only made myself and my bedroom a DIY hanging bookshelves.. I finished one book from Paulo Coelho but did not read the others...This old past time might be triggered because of this post. 😃
I've always wanted to make hanging bookshelves but never got the time.
Good luck on getting back to reading! 😁
Wow, i understand every word you talked about how you rediscovered books and how you escaped by reading books. I have more books lists for myself after reading your post. Thank you so much. I love reading books too.
That's good to hear! I hope you enjoy some of those books too. Thanks for your comment. 😁
I like that Digital Minimalism one quite a bit...I will have to read.
It's a very interesting book and it's a quick read. The highlight of the book is the 30-day digital decluttering that I've tried for myself.
It's nice to see that you're now going back to the things you've enjoyed doing in the past. I never really liked reading at all, but seeing the books you've read actually got me interested.
It's all about getting started and discovering your reason for reading books. And who knows, maybe you'll also find joy in it. 😁
Yes, I might!
kumusta. yup, my hard drive has so many ebooks on it that i download, but i just keep em in a folder for in case the wifi goes out, so i have something to do.. :P i do listen to audiobooks sometimes. ever read/listen to Rich Dad, Poor Dad. it's good. :)
I've been meaning to read it. I'll add it to my reading list. 😁