Recently I’ve been thinking about my reading habits, like, how often I read, and when I can make more time for reading. Personally, I find it really stressful that there are so many books that I want to read, and not enough time in which to do it. On the other hand, on the occasions when I do get time for reading, I mostly just end up playing Animal Crossing or scrolling through videos on my phone.

The hardest problem I have is that, back when I used to read three or four books each month, I did the majority of my reading while I was on the train to work. However, I now have a job in walking distance of my house, so I can’t exactly read whilst walking (not when I’m running late anyway).

Sometimes I do try to read during my lunch breaks at work, but I find that I have a tendency to get distracted by other people talking, I’ve tried wearing headphones during my break, but its still not quite what I want from my reading experience. I also try to read in the evenings, but after a ten hour shift I am exhausted and just want to watch tv or YouTube to relax.

Which basically leaves me with only reading on my days off. The problem with that is I have so many other things that I don’t have the time or energy for during the week, that I tend to be very busy on my time off.

I’m thinking of having a solo trip away sometime so that I can have a little reading retreat. But that would be expensive, and the kind of place I’d like for an atmospheric reading retreat would be a woodland or something, which isn’t quite suitable for a solo trip. It would feel creepy, and I’m not sure I’d feel safe. Haha.

This feels like I’m just making excuses.  I just want to find a way that I can fit in time to read without it feeling like a chore. 

I used to complain that I only read 30-40 pages in an average day.  Now I barely read anything. I really just need to stop getting distracted by other things. Perhaps I need more of a schedule where I say “on these days I’ll read for x amount of time, and on these days I’ll give myself an hour for playing this game”. Then I can start giving myself boundaries and I won’t feel like I’m missing out on anything, but I’ll also (hopefully) find that I can do a little bit of everything throughout the week.

I wish I could just get excited about the books I want to read. It’s not that I think the books are boring, or I’d choose something else to read. I just feel that the act of sitting down, picking up a book, turning to the right page, remembering what was happening… it all just feels like so much hassle.

I’d love to be the kind of person who could read a hundred or so pages in a day, then it wouldn’t be so difficult to rememeber what was going on. I’m also jealous of people who can read a whole book in a day or two. I don’t have the discipline to do that kind of thing. And I know that it’s entirely my responsibility if I want to achieve something like that, but like I said, there is so much that I want to do in my free time.

I don’t know. I don’t want reading to become stressful. I don’t want it to feel like a chore. I just want to feel excited to read.

Any advice?

Until next time,
Love, Bobbi. Xx.