13 Reasons WHY…. You must read.
Exercise for your mind & joy for your heart
Is it just me or you are still wearing a mask outdoors too? Nonetheless, it’s a stale topic and I can already feel you rolling your eyes. Above all, I hope you and your loved ones are doing okay.
Reading came to me as a gift of nurture. A gift I did not accept with open palms. I was named as the uncultured and will do no good in life kid. Just another day in a Kolkata-Bengali household. I am not complaining though. I was anyways upto no good.
Reading was too much of an effort & back in my times there was Cartoon Network(the good one where they spelled it) & friends who played outdoors. It took a lot of nagging and parental pressure for me to pick up a book and stick to it till the page of contents.
Books were really really boring. WERE.
Then came a phase in school-life, probably during the 5th or 6th grade where all my classmates were discussing how cool the Goosebumps series was. FOMO hit me. Mind and Body and Soul. Peer pressure did it. Enough about me though.
Let me list some reasons why you should make it a point to pick-up something, anything, at least once a day.
- It’s a beautiful escape
Even if you have the best life, there is always something better & above all you need change to relish your mainstream even more. - Reading is meditation
Let’s get real here. Sitting down and channelizing your head to concentrate on one thing only is really really hard. When you are reading, you are devoted, you are occupied & above all, you are focussing majorly on the texts. - The ideal ‘no devices hour’
We are in grave need of a digital detox. Look at your lifestyle. Just look at one day and you will see you’re more exposed to bluelight than sunlight. Also, how funny are your Vit D levels? Mine’s a joke. Well, you might not be able to mend that entirely but you can surely pick up a book and stay away from the screen for those 30 minutes at the very least. Everyday. - You mind needs to exercise more than your body
A healthy mind can propel a healthy body to greater levels and to brighter places. Your mindstate shapes everything for you and for everything and everyone associated to you. Reading only 5–7 minutes a day will help reduce your stress levels by 60–70%. A classic implementation of the 80–20 rule. - Reading makes you patient, humble
The more you read, the more you will broaden your horizons and the more you will see to the world. My high school English teacher had once told me, “How can you afford to waste time when there is so much left to read!”
Truer words have never been spoken. Rather than making you feel how much you know, it makes you cognizant of how much you don’t know and pushes you to grow. Pushes you beyond that comfort-arrogant bubble. - Your mind will get edgier
Reading, especially fiction reading will increase your critical and analytical thinking. You will start making more sense of human behaviour and develop many new perspectives. Above all, it will improve your brain functions, communication skills and vocabulary. - You’ll stop feeling lonely
Many complain how hard it is to live by themselves and how influential and important having a social life is. Yes, as humans, as social creatures, we are bound to crave for social interactions, we need time and attention. Friends, family, your pets keep you company and bring your joy. There is no denying that. There’s always a ‘but’. Being in your own company is where all the growing happens. Reading will incorporate the practise of being by yourself. A major part of reading is a one person activity. - Start sleeping better
Your mind will become calm since you’re focussed on reading. Pick a glass of water to sip and get a book to read and you will start sleeping better in no time. Disclaimer: avoid reading genres like horror, thriller etc. - Your memory power gets drastically enhanced
This occurs majorly while reading fiction. You start noting and remembering the characters, their names, their stories. This in turn gets incorporated to your day to day life. Your mind has learnt to note and keep details it finds important and relatable. Indirectly, you’re training for better remembering power. - They are the greatest source of emotional growth & empathy generators
While reading, we go through almost every emotion the book holds and more than often we live the stories within minutes. Not only are we teleported to a different world but also start becoming more humane. Books are a perfect amalgamation of different feelings, ultimately making you grow emotionally. - No need to reinvent the wheel
When you read biographies and autobiographies or stories of real life experiences, it’s better than hitting a jackpot. In a span of minutes or hours, you have encountered so many truths of life without having to go through them all by yourself. You need not reinvent the wheel all over again. Rather start building an enhanced version of it. Books are our greatest life enablers. - Your motivation and role models are right by you
It is difficult to seek knowledge from the source at all times. Books are the documented, highly available and detailed versions of anyone and everyone you want to seek guidance and knowledge from. Dead or alive. I cannot reach Mr. Warren Buffet for lessons on money or Micheal Jordan for guidance on discipline. What I can do is read about them or read something they have written and use what is most relevant to my life or the one I want to build. - For the sheer joy of it
I thought of keeping the sweetest for dessert. If not anything, reading will bring you joy. Reading will make you happy. If something as small as the morning coffee is bad or someone said something disturbing can disrupt our moods and enrage us, overpower our composed selves, it is our obligation and duty to ourselves to grab every small bit that makes us happy too. If you can let the negative overpower you, you should willingly let the good rejuvenate you.
How to get started?
- Start small. Pick a thin book. Preferably something with colours and illustrations. This is an absolute necessity when you’re trying to imbibe the habit in a kid.
- Pick the language you’re most comfortable reading and writing in.
- Find genres that interest you. Avoid going for the trending and best-sellers because everyone is reading it.
- Ask around for suggestions and see if you like what you hear.
- Do not buy/stock too many books in one go. The pile pressure will make you give up sooner.
- Get a library membership near you. Try visiting the library often.
- Find a partner in reading. Read and exchange and discuss if you’d like.
- Set a decent target for yourself. One 300 to 500 pages book a month which would roughly convert to 10 to 18 pages a day that can be read in 15–30 minutes.
- Allot a fixed time for reading and do it daily. Consistency is the key.
Just backspaced all the suggestions I had put forward so that I do not bias your reading journey. Find your own and travel where ever you like and however you enjoy the most.
Do let me know what was/is/will-be the 1st book you read.
Where can you find me:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Pronomita_Dey
- Instagram: a_nerd_aurat
- Write to me: dey.pronomita@gmail.com
There goes my reads for March-April 2022. I have started reading comics to keep the soul younger. (Maybe I need to drink more water and incorporate some yoga). Hedging them with some non-fiction. Happy reading guys!
