How I started reading like I did when I was a kid again 🪄✨

Hello! I am a stressed-out, full-time working adult who has recently (over the last year or so) nevertheless regained my childhood love of reading, after several years of basically not reading at all. I took some concrete steps to get here, so I figured I’d share some thoughts and tips for anyone who, like me, was a huge reader as a kid/teen but really fell off on reading as an adult. This probably wouldn’t work for everyone, but I truly hope it works for some. I just finished my fifth book of 2024, and I’m loving every heart-stopping, teary-eyed, butterflies-in-my-stomach moment of it.

*Note: This list is not for you if you’re already consistently reading! (Which I imagine is most people on this sub, but I figure there have got to be many like me, too.)

1. I stopped caring about what I “should” read. When I start a new book, I start the #1 book I’m *most* excited to read, no exceptions. It’s okay to read just for fun! This is intuitive, but I truly can’t emphasize enough HOW much easier it is to be consistent in reading when you’re genuinely super excited about the books, vs. always trying to tackle something challenging and literary or important and historical (or whatever your “I should be reading X” may be). If something feels daunting or difficult to approach, I recommend saving it for when you’re already consistently reading.

2. Along those same lines, I give a new book 50 pages to enrapture me. If I’m not hooked by then, or if at any point reading it feels like a chore, I put it down and move on to something I’m excited to read.

3. I changed my name to a pseudonym on Goodreads (and then later I switched to Storygraph and just never added any friends). This might seem silly, but I think it was really important for me. I was imposing all these made-up external expectations and judgments on myself that made no sense to impose. Not only did Goodreads impact what I thought I should be reading (literature that my bookish friends would be impressed by), but I actually think it was serving as something of a barrier to reading at all, as foolish as that is. I thought it would be embarrassing for people to see my activity then look at my profile and see that I hadn’t read a single book for several years (as if anyone would do that or care). Regardless, I found it genuinely freeing to remove any possibility of outside observers to my reading.

4. I started reading for short periods in the “in between” times. I made it my goal that, instead of picking up my phone when I had an idle aimless moment, I’d pick up my book. This *didn’t* work if I was only doing it once in a while, because I had a tendency to mentally lose my place, but when I’m doing it several times a day every day, it’s pretty easy to quickly get back into the flow even if I don’t have long to read.

5. This one is a little bit much and probably not feasible for a lot of people, but I full on started waking up an hour earlier than I used to and just reading in bed for that period of time. Admittedly, this was largely motivated by trying to manage my anxiety and work stress—which it has done wonders for, by the way; I don’t look at my phone or any screens until that hour is over, and the difference it makes throughout my day is unreal—but it also has me flying through books and thinking about them all day. And, it’s a lovely gradual wake-up process (as long as you’re not reading something dull that puts you back to sleep… which if you’re following #2-3 you never should be)!

Being intentional about doing all of the above has brought me back to the magic of reading, which itself has made my life better in so many ways. If my tips help even one other person find that magic again, too, I’ll be overjoyed to hear it!

by serialkillertswift