Life is hectic. We all relate to it at one point or another because of the increase in workload and its inversely proportional effect on mental peace and sleep. As a reader, I always convince people to get into reading. But how can one take out special time for reading when there are so many errands left to finish? It's simple. Reading is not a responsibility you have to add to your already tiring and nerve-wrecking list. It's an activity to get you out of the slump that is ready to hit you anytime. Here's how you can develop a reading routine amidst a chaotic life.
1) Understand your tastes and likes:
Life is short. You do not want to spend it reading a book you end up wanting to smash across the wall. Make lists of categories you want to read. Genres you want to explore. And then, by some help, understand if you like what the book is offering you. To know your book tastes, you should start up by reading short stories of various genres and tropes and take trusted recommendations from your AP lit professors or any friends.
2)Make reading goals:
By setting up reading goals, you are challenging yourself. This automatically enhances your spirit to read. Yearly or monthly reading goals help you calculate your reading speed. Even making daily goals can be a stepping stone.
3)Visit libraries on weekends:
After a hectic week of workload, a library is the most peaceful place you can settle in. Surfing through various shelves of a hundred different genres and subgenres, categories and subcategories, tropes and subtropes feels at home. As an avid reader, the one activity I adore is discovering small and big, new and vintage libraries. I spend a lot of time sitting on the floor of my university library in front of a bookshelf. Reading away all the blurbs and still contemplating which books not to take home because, obviously, I have a card limit- it is, therapy in its own sense.
4)Join book clubs or have bookish conversations: Getting your way into a bookclub is honestly the most awesome decision one can make in your life. I have been part of so many bookclubs, varying from school level to college level. From online and bookstagram clubs to offline meet ups with friends. It feels amazing when you talk to someone about books in general. Discussing your opinions on what and how and when the situation could have been better or the amount of time one took to get over a book- no kidding, it feels awesome. When you're a part of an intellectual conversation, you grow into an individual who has learned and advocated one or two new advices in life. It helps you feel at comfort and at ease.
5)Use reading tracker apps:
Personally, these reading apps have helped me a lot, but only when I am committed to it religiously. These apps help you feel punctual and in control. You do not want any mindless reading and end up forgetting the plot otherwise.
Here are some apps I would recommend that are absolutely free:
a) Goodreads: This is the most well known app amongst the reader community. The app does wonders when it comes to providing the best, the truest and the most humourous book reviews and comments.
b)StoryGraph: Here is another app that actually helped me a lot. This app offers personalised book recommendations by judging your book tastes, themes you love exploring, favourite topics, your current moods, etc.
c) Italic Type: The most uncomplicated site to record your reading progress. Just like Goodreads, it adds books onto your shelf, letting you report a boon such as 'pause' or 'DNF'.
d) Bookshelf: This app specialises in generating book quizzes, reading statistics and charts to demonstrate your overall progress throughout. The best feature yet might be the notifications that pop up on your phone as a reminder to finish today's reading goal.
Remember, eventually, it doesn't matter if you aren't regular on the apps. Even a simple pen and paper and a reading progress chart can help you in many ways these apps cannot.
6)Try audiobooks or Ebooks:
For people just diving into this hobby, it might be tedious committing to it continuously and consistently. Hence, trying different versions as a reader and exploring various options helps you build a permanent and long-lasting interest in reading. Audiobooks help you finish your reading goal while you're on your way to the workplace or having a jog. Ebooks can come in handy for people who cannot travel with books. By multitasking, you are not putting aside your main priorities as well as taking out time on this commitment.
7)Avoid using electronic devices before sleeping:
One of the main reasons for sleep-induced anxieties is the usage of mobile phones or randomly surfing on the internet before bedtime. Your time before bed is golden. It should be incentivised by thinking about tomorrow's to-do list and reading your favourite books to have a refreshing sleep. A 2021 online study conducted on social media asked 496 participants to read a book in bed before sleeping and another 496 students to not. After a week, 42% of the readers felt their sleep improved. Reading at night can boost your brain power.
8)Sign up on various pages and blogs:
Literally works as a boon every time. My mail is flooded with notifications of book news, recommendations and newsletters of the month mails. I mean- these readers just know what they are doing. It's inspiring to read about their journeys and problems they face while building their reading personality. You can also sign up for various publishing houses mails who give new release updates.
Eventually, it's your reading journey that matters the most. Reading can be such an inseparable part of your life that it feels like magic. I urge you to start right now. You are missing out on so much if you haven't picked up a book and have not been genuinely interested in reading the blurb.
Napoléon Bonaparte once said something that is still engraved in my mind and it will never be. "Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.”
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