As a college student, you probably spend a lot of time reading. Depending on your major, you might read hundreds of pages of analyical texts, primary sources, classic literature or textbooks a week. But the real question is, are you reading anything for pleasure? I’m not talking about Buzzfeed articles or links you’ve found by clicking on the status posts of your politically invovled Facebook friends. I’m not even talking about flipping through a copy of The New York Times while you wait in line for coffee at PJs. Are you making time in your life to read books for pleasure?
As a student who is committed to my academics as well as many other extracurricular activities on and off campus, I certainly know what it means to juggle a busy schedule. I would justify my lack of pleasure reading by telling myself that “It’s fine. You read all the time. You’re an English major!” However, I really don’t. There is something about being assigned to read something, having to read it on a deadline and then discucssing it in an academic context that can take all the pleasure out of reading. A book that you might have loved were you to read it while vacationing on a lake, can suddenly become your nemesis if assigned in the school year.
Recently I made the decision to pick up reading for pleasure again. I kept Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri book by my bedside table and made the conscious effort to read for fifteen minutes every night before going to bed. Instead of browsing the Internet, I would pull out my book fifteteen minutes before I wanted to go to sleep. I quickly found that I was sleeping better at night, thinking more creatively while I was awake and spending less and less time on my computer in the evenings because I couldn’t wait to pick up my book again.
I’m almost done with this book and I can’t wait to start the next one. I think that reading for pleasure is like working out. You think you don’t have time for it but once you make time, you realize how necessary it is for your sanity! Reading before bed at night has started to feel like such a treat, something I look forward to all day. Once you’ve got the reading bug, you won’t be able to stop!