How to Start Reading If You Hate Reading:
Reading doesn’t have to suck.
In today’s age, plain old books have to compete with Netflix and YouTube and Tik Tok and Instagram. That is not a fair competition because all these social media apps offer you a lot of stimulation and instant gratification whereas reading requires patience and discipline.
A ton of people who are not readers have claimed that they hate reading. Hate is a strong word, but they were not afraid to use it. Why do people hate reading?? I don’t know… It’s boring to them, I guess. I mean I get it, sitting down with a book in your hand. If you are not used to it that would feel like torture.
You know reading is good for you and you want to start doing it but the idea of reading just drives you up the wall. Today I’m here to help you with that. Here are some tips to make reading a little bit easier and to make you hate it a little bit less.
1. Listen to audiobooks:
If you seriously cannot entertain the thought of sitting down and reading papers with words but you still want to know and understand all those words. Then why not have someone else read them to you??
Audiobooks are the bomb.com.
Sure listening to audiobooks is not the same as reading a book but if what you want from the book is the knowledge or the story then audiobooks are the answer. The great thing about audiobooks is that you can listen to them while going about your life. You can listen to them while doing chores, driving, working out, or getting ready.
If I was a YouTuber this would usually be the part where I’d say… “Thank you to Audible for sponsoring this video.” But no, there will not be any thanking Audible today. Today will just be me and you. Me teaching you how to hate books less.
2. Read your favourite genre:
What’s your favourite book genre?? No, not a self-help book. I mean a real book. A real book. Which books do you like??
Because you probably hate reading you probably don’t have the answer to that question. That’s where self-awareness comes in. What types of books do you think you would enjoy??
A rule of thumb to follow is to pick your favourite movie genre. If you like thriller movies then you want to read thriller books, if you like sci-fi movies then you read sci-fi books, and romance movies then romance books it is.
However, this rule of thumb is not entirely accurate because although I could easily spend all day reading psychological thrillers, I’d never watch them. They terrify me.
3. Read Adaptations:
Is your favourite movie based on a novel?? Is your favourite movie an adaptation??
If so, you might want to give reading that book a try. I mean you already love the movie, and the characters and you’re already invested in the story.
Books tend to carry more information and have more depth than series or movies. The book usually gets deep into the plot and the characters. Also, books and screen adaptions of those books can be very different, so you have a chance of being surprised by the book.
4. You don’t have to finish every book:
I recently came across this quote:
Don’t settle: Don’t finish crappy books. If you don’t like the menu, leave the restaurant. If you’re not on the right path, get off it. — Chris Brogan
This quote soon became a great mantra for me.
I am someone who watches the whole series because I watched the first episode, who finishes watching a video because I clicked on it and who finishes a book because I picked it up. That sounds contradictory coming from someone who wrote a whole post about the books that they didn’t finish reading.
Yes I wrote about the books that I didn’t finish but what you didn’t see are the books that I forced myself to finish reading because I started reading them.
So if you start reading a book and you just can’t, then don’t. Put it down. You did not sign a contract to finish reading the book when you picked it up.
However since you don’t like reading you are probably not give to like any book that you are reading. So by when you can’t read a book I mean when you keep rereading the first page and you can’t make sense of it or you have the overwhelming urge to just light the book on fire. Instead of lighting the book on fire, put it down and pick up another one.
It’s not your fault for not being able to read the book. The book is simply not for you. I learnt that the hard way when I tried to force myself to finish reading Far from The Madding Crowd. Spoiler alert, I didn’t finish it.
4. Be Patient:
Don’t be one of those people who have started reading a ton of books but have never finished any.
I know I just gave you full permission to not finish books but don’t overuse that permission. If a book does not want to make you rip off all your hair, then stick with it. Be patient, like everything, reading takes time. But the good news is, it does get better with time.
At first reading will feel like torture, as time goes on it’ll feel kinda okay, then it’ll feel okay, then you’ll prefer it over doing some things then you’ll prefer it over everything. To get to the last phase, you have to go through all the other phases.
You’ve got this. You can finish reading a book. I believe in you.
This article was first published on GTeenLife, my WordPress blog.
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