Many of us are at points in our lives where we find it difficult if not impossible to do the things that give us the "it's the little things" kind of pleasures that we so love. As college students, we're so tied down with term papers, projects, readings, labs, exams, extracurriculars, significant others, friends, and so forth, that we get lost in the world that is beyond our bookshelves -- so far away, perhaps, that it's impossible to journey back again.

Having a life is awesome. I love my friends, my classes, hell, even all my mountains of classwork. But I also find myself wistfully looking at the books that I brought to college and feel this sort of pit in my stomach as regret takes hold from my inability to find time to read.

I'm a bookworm who finds dust growing on my paperbacks, and that's horrifying.

I'm an English major, and next semester I'll be studying James Joyce's "Ulysses," one of the most notoriously dense and difficult reads to get through, as well as a bunch of Shakespeare. These texts are both a blessing and a curse. They're amazing works of art that are filled with so much to discover, but they also can control you. This and all my other schoolwork combines into this mess where I'm reading strictly because I'm told to do so and it just burns me out, and often makes me feel unmotivated.

For me, a good cure comes in the form of friends, the gym, and video games. However, sometimes I also just want to defy the rules of the system, and just read something else. There is no better time to find ways to do it than when our workload decreases exponentially.

Winter break is the perfect time to find ways to fit reading back into our daily lives and to go beyond what is expected of us in curriculums. You better believe that the next month will be full of friends, family, excursions, adventures, perhaps some spelunking, working, prepping for next semester, and most definitely some reading.

eReaders, smartphones, and tablets are really great devices to travel with books. If you're not down to shell out some extra cash, but also don't want to travel with the bulk of your personal library, Amazon (and other vendors) often have 99 cent deals, and even free books. If you are down to travel with some lit, perhaps a road trip to a family's home is the perfect time to crack open a book? I get my best reading done on the subway. Even better yet, perhaps do a dramatic reading, or, as a family, listen to an audiobook.

Actually, let's talk about audiobooks for a second. There are some pretty freakin' amazing ones out there. Some authors read their own works (Neil Gaiman, Malcolm Gladwell, Anne Lamott, and most celebrities), or get pretty fantastic readers to do it for them. (Try Stephen Fry's take on "Harry Potter," or Samuel L. Jackson's "Rage on Harlem." Do it.) They are a great way to relax and be entertained, but also not really strain your eyes. And who doesn't want Tom Hiddleston to lull them to sleep at night?

Perhaps you're planning on seeing "Deadpool" next February, or are waiting endlessly for Netflix's adoption of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" to come out? Why not pick up a graphic novel (especially a super fantastic meta one where our main foul-mouthed character entirely recognizes he's trapped in a book) or travel down memory lane with a beloved childhood series?

Hell, perhaps you find a book that aligns with your major. Or maybe you love reading essays. Maybe even memoirs. There are so much fantastic fiction and nonfiction that crosses into every genre and alignment on this planet. You only need to dig a little deeper for it, perhaps traverse your local Barnes and Noble (or, preferably, an independent bookstore, a library, or your best friend's bookshelf).

Maybe fan-fiction is your thing. You can find stories from 800 words in length, all the way up to the millions (fun fact: the longest fanfic in existence is an epic series about Super Smash Brothers Brawl). Or perhaps you can start a book club with your college buddies who live on the opposite end of the country. Or perhaps you'll pick up a short story anthology. Anthologies are a great thing to bring back to school with you. Short stories are these little worlds that take little time to visit but just invigorate you with hyper-realized emotions and keep you excited to read.

All I know is, there is a world outside movies and Netflix (and this is coming from a person who's majoring in Film Studies.) I want to see where the stories I view come from and remind myself that reading won't forever be simply linked back to exactly why my backpack is heavy with the weight of a 20-page term paper. I want to love reading and to curl up on a snowy morning with some tea, fuzzy socks, and a fantastic piece of reading material. And I hope you do the same.