Hi guys! So I was in my room yesterday, desperately trying to finish the book I was reading, when I suddenly realized something which caught me completely off-guard: I was not enjoying it at all! And sometimes, yeah, some books don't work for you, but what I realized I wasn't enjoying was not the book but the reading itself. And then it hit me. I had been trying so hard to finish as many books as I could lately that reading had stop being fun.
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Okay, so you're probably wondering why I've been trying so hard to finish my books. Well, those of you who've been here for a while already know this but in short, very soon, I'm moving abroad to do my Master degree. That means that I'll be leaving a bunch of my stuff back at home... including my bookshelf and all of its unread books!
I know, I know. I can take some books with me. The thing is, I already have so many stuff I must bring with me, which limits the number of books I can take with me. So some books will have to be left behind and there's not much I can do about that. Apart from reading them that is... which brings me back to the whole 'reading is not fun anymore' situation.
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While I will have a full post for you with more info about my move abroad soon, right now what I can already tell you is that I'll be leaving in roughly 5 weeks. And 5 weeks is a very short span of time to finish a TBR. Usually, I read 1 or 2 books per week. With the move looming closer, I've found myself struggling to complete 4 or 5 books per week and while I've read some good books lately, not gonna lie, after a little while it all began to become a tad exhausting.
So today, I was thinking I wished I had someone I could discuss about all that stuff with when I suddenly realized that I actually do. I mean you guys, of course ^^ So I decided to write a blog post about it. And make myself a warm cup of tea which I'm drinking while I'm typing this... Tea ♥
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Phew! I do feel a little better about it now that I've shared all that stuff with you! And had some tea ^^
Okay, so here's what I've decided...
1. I'm going to take a break from reading for a couple of days or more. I had a bit of a burn out here so the best thing is simply to take some time off reading.
2. I'm going to stop stressing about my unread books. I'll pack as many of them as I can and so what if I leave some unread books behind? I can just read them when I'm back, right?
3. Starting from now, I'm going to read only for pleasure. Not to finish my TBR, not to meet any kind of reading goal, nope. I like books and that's the only reason I'll be reading them.
4. I'll read books I want to read rather than books I feel I should be reading. This seems like a simple thing but honestly, sometimes I feel like there are particular books or kinds of books I should be reading and this is just ridiculous. Unless you have required reading for school or maybe for review, there's no reason to push yourself to read things you don't feel like picking up.
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I guess today's post was more me sharing my thoughts with you rather than an actual book blog post. It's just that I really wanted to share this issue with you guys. So if you have words of advice for me or simply some thoughts you want to share, definitely leave a comment down below!
Books seem like such a silly thing to get stressed over right?! But I guess that's part of being a hopelessly passionate book lover after all ^^
I am sorry about your reading slump, Soudha. I face it sometimes, too, but since I read many kinds of books, I manage to keep away a little longer. In my case, it is always the book, so when it I realize that I am getting nowhere, I put it down, take a deep breath and try to read it again when I am calm enough. If it doesn't work, I'd just DNF it.
ReplyDeleteI applaud your approach of reading for pleasure. Reading should be fun, and if it's not fun anymore, there's always something wrong in it. Congratulations on your new venture, I am happy for you. Good luck!
Thanks for the lovely comment Citra ^^
DeleteSharing your thoughts definitely counts as a "real" post in my book! :)
ReplyDeleteI hope your slump passes soon - I think your decisions are great and they'll help you fall in love with reading again. I've been having an off year, too, I either LOVE a book (this has happened... twice in 2016 so far) or it's just mediocre and loooong and not exciting at all. *sigh* I guess these kinds of moods come and go.
Where are you moving for you Master? I hope you're excited about the move! Good luck!
Thanks for the thoughtful message! I'm moving to Malaysia and yeah, I am pretty excited about it :)
DeleteThis is totally a ''real'' post because you're talking about reading! I'm sorry you've been in a slump but trust me when I say we've all been there! You're right though: reading SHOULD be fun and if it's not, you need a break! The fact that you're in Uni right now means your reading for school too! When I was in Uni I completely gave up on reading for fun because I was doing too much reading for school. I only picked up reading for pleasure again once I was out of Uni. So don't feel too bad and take breaks when you need them :) Best of luck with the move and your studies ♥
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right Micheline! I used to feel bad about taking breaks from reading but you're right, that's just something that needs to happen from time to time. Thanks ♥
DeleteI've been so busy lately, that I've found it a chore to pick up a book to read as well, lately. It makes me sad, but it's necessary to take a break sometimes! I think your epiphany about it is perfect though, it's good to just read what you want and not worry about making it productive in some way. :) I'm excited for you with your move too - you'll have a wonderful time I'm sure!
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're right! And thanks for the comment Charlene :)
DeleteI so understand your struggle! I have 3 books to read but because I have so many things to do (and read as well) in College, I completely lost all the reading fun and I just stopped reading. Don't worry, sometimes it is better to stop a bit and then restart your readings.
ReplyDelete(And yay! Your doing a Masters and I will begin my Masters this year as well!!! - PS. Good luck!)
You're right! Thanks and good luck to you too ^^
DeleteLately I haven't been enjoying reading as much either. In fact, I only read about six books in the month of April which is a whole lot fewer than usual when it comes to me. However, I'm not going to let it get me down and I'm just going to move on. I want to stress a whole lot less when it comes to what I read because otherwise the fun will continue to be sucked out of it.
ReplyDeleteThat's the spirit girl! ^^
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