Before I went to college, I was an avid reader. I tore through books faster than my mother could buy them. By the time I got to high school I was regularly checking out two or three books at a time and demolishing them well before their two week due by date.
But then I went to college, and other things took over- things like writing papers, reading stacks of articles for class, going to parties that seemed to last forever, sleeping late, because I knew that my night class was going to drain me. Etc. Etc. Etc.
I kept bringing books from home back to my dorm room, but they would always sit on my nightstand collecting dust and being a convenient place to place my mug of tea. I think I maybe finished a grand total of 20 non-school books during my undergrad. That's 20 books in four years.
That's pathetic, especially for an English major. (I know. Heap on the shame. I deserve it.)
So after I went through my "oh my god I graduated and now don't have a job and don't know what to do" quarter life crisis, found a job and finally started to feel settled, I committed to a new reading goal for 2016.
I committed to reading 50 books in 2016 and I got my boyfriend in on it too. (He's beating me currently and I'm salty about it, but it's fine. I've got time to prevail.)
Anyway, I bought a Kindle and started reading. I told myself that I was going to take my lunch hour, find a quiet place and read for an hour while eating. This...this has made all the difference in my life.
If you are like most millennials in the workforce, you probably spend your entire day from the moment you get up with your iPhone alarm to the second you fall asleep after refreshing Instagram for the 35th time that day on some type of connected technology.
That's a lot of screen time and a lot of time where your brain is processing a lot of digital noise.
If you're in the workforce, you have probably felt the harried "I have to get this done right this very second" nature of some projects. (Trust me. I work at a retail company. Everything is right now.)
When I look around me, I see so many people that are so frantic and stretched so thin. They feel like they have so much to do that they balk at the very thought of taking time to read.
"Read? If only I had the time! It's so great that you do. Wish I could."
Guess what? You can.
Work fills the time it's given. If you give yourself an hour to do something you will get it done in an hour. But if you know you have three hours that some project will now take three hours. It's all about time management.
Make the time to read. You will find the time for the other things.
For me, taking this reading hour allows me to totally shut off the digital noise and immerse myself in something totally separated from my work day and daily routine. Reading for that hour allows me the time to reset my mind and get back into a state of more settled focus.
I feel like this hour is the time in my work day that is genuinely mine. I don't bring my cell phone with me. I use the clock on the Kindle or my watch to keep time so I don't lose track of time and I let my mind totally absorb the book.
I tune everything else out and the world just gets quiet.
I know that a lot of people aren't really readers anymore.
"Books are outdated." "Print is dead." "But there are all these shows on Netflix!" "What if I miss an important text?!"
On and on and on. But I urge you, take the time to read.
Take the time to read. Give yourself the time to shut out all the digital noise and do something that's just for you.
That text can wait. The email from your colleague will still be there in an hour. You need time to reset. Reading about other places, people, things, activities, getting intrenched in the words on the page will make all the difference. Take the time to read.
Your mind will thank you.
