Back to Reading

With the holidays over, and life getting back to some sense of normalcy, now is the time to get back into any of those good hobbies and routines you’ve fallen out of. Without the craziness of the holiday season life is already busy for most families and parents, but adding in all of the activities that come this time of year makes it even crazier for most.

Reading is usually one of the first activities that goes this time of year. It’s very easy to spend your time doing other things besides reading when life gets busy. You can’t put your kids off (or you shouldn’t), and you can’t drop work. This means that you’ll have to drop some of your hobbies. If you’re not already dedicated heavily to reading, then it becomes easy to forget about it.

School is starting back up, the distractions of the holidays are passing, and it’s time to re-assess where you’re spending most of your time. Figure out where you’re spending your time, and allocate it accordingly to the things you want to be doing. If reading is something you want to get into, then you’ll have to consciously make time for it.

If you didn’t get one as a gift this year, then consider picking up a Kindle. It’s by far the easiest way to be able to carry a book with you at all times. You can slip it in your pocket or your purse if you think you might have a few minutes that you can read, and you can carry multiple books with you so you’ll never run out. Whether you’re waiting to pick kids up from school, dropping them off somewhere, or just have a few minutes in the car, it’s nice to have your book with you at all times.

Beyond a physical book, you should also make sure you have an audiobook to listen to as well. Audible makes this very simple, as you can listen to almost any book that you want, and it simply comes through your phone. Most everyone carries their phone with them everywhere already, so it’s far less likely that you’ll forget to bring it along. The car is another excellent place to listen to your audiobook, but there are also lots of other times you can listen as well.

If you’re just getting started with a higher amount of reading, then you’ll want to find books that you enjoy and that keep you engaged. The top reason that people give up on reading easily is that they’re reading books that they don’t like. Just because a book is popular doesn’t mean you have to like it. Find books that you really enjoy reading in order to stick to reading.

Books can open a completely different world to you, or help you to become a better person. They force you to think about things in a different way than you normally do. Some books will help you to become a better person, while others will simply help you to disconnect from the day to day grind that you’re living in. Any amount of reading that you get in is certainly better than none.

Reading takes some effort to make part of your life. Figure out where you can integrate it as part of your daily routine in order to get into reading on a regular basis.