Reading a book wasn’t ever a favorite activity for me. As a teenager it was something that I didn’t enjoy personally. In fact I totally hated it. More often than not I was forced to read books rather than choosing on my own. Growing up in a family surrounded by bookworms it wasn’t easy getting adjusted to this bookish environment. It felt like I was in a fierce competition. Like I was the rookie amongst the family while the adults were the alphas among competition.
As the years went by, without touching a single book, I still hadn’t taken into account the importance of reading books. I would find various reasons to keep away books.
So what did I do to change my habit, and what motivated me to start reading books?
In fact the answer is much more simple than it seems. It was due to the coronavirus lockdown. Now I know, this isn’t much of a reason to start reading books but it actually is what happened. I read a lot of people watched Netflix and YouTube. I just read books. Having nothing to do with my life during lockdown — I was forced to improvise, adapt, overcome — as Bear Grylls says. I also looked over a couple of youtube videos online about how books influenced people’s lives in dramatic ways, such as this video :
Starting out any new hobby or any new type of activity is not what it usually seems. This same concept can also be applied to book reading. You have this constant thought on your mind that your expectations will not be met, or that it’ll turn out to be a huge waste of time. When in reality it’s the exact opposite. You see — the reason why I hadn’t touched a single book in years was because I kept thinking about it. Thinking that it would inevitably just get me nowhere, without actually having the courage to give it a try. Thinking about reading stopped me reading.
Thoughts can be manipulative. They can steer us to a direction we do not wish to go. They can make us believe things that are not what they seem to be. And that’s the brain for you. Who would have thought that the most important organ in our entire body can be at the same time — the most troubling of them all. Ironic, yet true.
As a world known Greek philosopher once said :
“Day by day, what you choose, what you think and what you do is who you become.”
— Heraclitus
Keeping this mindset can open many more, if not unlimited opportunities. This begs the question — are you willing to give this activity, job, relationship, a try before judging anything? Are you willing to start reinventing yourself and becoming the best person you could ever possibly be?
That all depends on how YOU think — and your processing through your brain. Same mindset goes for this topic referring to books of course. Will you stop thinking about stuff that doesn’t help your goals and ambitions and start reading books? Will you start reading books despite the negative thoughts you may have regarding reading.
So what books should you read to get going ? Well my rules have been :
- Nothing which was written generations away initially (later on yes!)
- Stuff that interests you
- Ratio of text to images above 50% (I love comics but they are not books)
- Some motivational books
- Books that movies you saw and loved were based on
During the lockdown, I’m proud to say that I have officially read over 15 new books that have changed my thinking and life in ways that I didn’t think would be possible. I have improved my concentration considerably, as reading has become a personal favorite of mine and I’ve also seen a vast improvement in my writing.
Books are important. They contain knowledge that sparks an unexplained magic. And that’s up to you to explore it and make the most out of it. I hope you try to forget for a bit your biases, Netflix and social media and give books a chance. You will be pleasantly surprised.
