2022 - A year of abundance
Reflections at the end of the year are often something useful to understand what worked (or did not). I normally do not spend much time analyzing or reviewing my reading year; and maybe it was a shortcoming on my side. With that said, I implemented a new approach to reading, being more evidence based in how I read and what I read. It was a year long journey and I loved pretty much all about it - in hindsight. So why do I think 2022 was a good year for me? I read a lot of books; yet, the true satisfaction comes from the year of discovery of my reading process. It was a great journey that satisfied me more than I had ever experienced.
With that said, I wanted to share with you my choices to, hopefully, inspire you to try some of these tweaks to see if they work for you or find your own tweaks for the enjoyment of the reading process. Or, even better, to attempt your own version of the tweaks until you are satisfied!
So here is where I started the year: 2021 was a year of challenges in my reading experience. Not only I struggled to read enough books - to my standards - but, more worryingly, I did not really enjoy what I was reading; not to mention that I felt the grind arising from blogging my experience.
The first thing that I did was to start with an affirmation. It is nothing original and I took this inspiration from runner’s channels who appropriately suggest that the first thing one needs to do to become a runner is to state one is a runner. I shamelessly took this learning and applied it to my reading.
I am a reader.
And since I am a reader, I have to make the time to read, even if it is only one line a day (the compounding effect is what matters most here). Reading is my space to take a break and experience new worlds and spend time with fictional characters.
The second thing I did was to analyze what type of reader I actually am. I am an impulsive reader. I just want to read the next book and/or series and this is a difficult driver that easily leads to frustration when I cannot start a new series. On top of that, I would get frustrated for not finishing series that I start reading. So I need to balance two diverging needs and interests.
With that in mind, I realized that I needed a tool to keep myself accountable. Starting new series was allowed, as long as there was a plan to finish them (DNF’ing them is also allowed). The first tool that I implemented was a physical reading journal and I loved it for a few months. It was the tool I would use every time I finished a book to create a new page for the book and then also keep a running list of open series and the progress I was making on them.
Since then, I have not worked on my physical reading journal and I have moved into a different set up. I am currently trying to keep a Hobonichi weeks journal to keep track of daily reads and series I am currently reading; next to it, I am also working on my note taking app to keep track of what I want to read next (a flexible tool that changes during each month) and in my yearly plan. We’ll see if this approach is sustainable (I am mostly worried when I travel and I struggle to follow my routine) yet I am excited about the possibilities (and the ability to tweak the system to fit my needs over time!).
The other goal I had for myself was to be more mindful while reading; and I could not figure out what that meant for me until much later in the year. I kept thinking about what it actually meant to me and how I could incorporate it in my reading experience. And it very slowly dawned on me. I wanted to record my reactions to the books I read; and I could not find a way to incorporate it other than by taking a camera and record my reaction; and yet, was this the only tool available? And eventually the revelation: take notes while reading! In fact, there are two needs met here: on one hand I was frustrated because I could not remember details more or less important when it takes months or years between resuming reading a series; on the other hand, I can jot down my thoughts. My reactions, my ideas on plot development, my concerns, my feelings. And I found this to be one of the most important developments overall for me. A revelation for me.
I even found the perfect formatting for the thoughts: I write my thoughts in bold so it is easy to see my opinions while revisiting the content I read!
There were two more things that helped me during my journey. One has only an indirect positive effect and the other pertains to mindset (as my “I am a reader” affirmation).
I started doing long workouts; I spent time on longer walks and I get bored if I do not have the right company and a book is the perfect company. So suddenly I had space for audiobooks (and that is how I went through the Grey Man and Sharpe’s series). This is a trend that will stay and I am looking forward to continuing this alternative stream to exploring stories.
The last thing that occurred to me - and more than occurred, I was hit in the head with it - is that reading slumps are not a thing. Either you are in a mood to read and your read or you are not and you do something else. Why giving negative connotation to a state of mind? There are a million reasons why one does not feel like reading and so it is important to alleviate this situation. And it has helped me. Essentially when I hit this point, I either take a break (with small TV usually or journaling) or I just pick a different book (that is also why sometimes I have up to 4 books going at the same time).
To recap, these are the actions that helped me:
affirmation (I am a reader), keeping track of my reading (and it evolved over time), interact with my reading (by taking notes and writing down my feelings and thoughts while reading), long walks and pick up a new book when I hit a "slump".
Have you tried a more empirical approach to reading? If so, what are the things that work for you and what are the things that did not work for you? Have you tried any of the tricks above? Do you have additional suggestions? Feel free to comment down below!
