my longest living “resolution”: reading for pleasure
I have made a New Year’s Resolution list every year since I came upon the fascinating practice.
Maybe it was the perceived glory that comes with completing a resolution, or the satisfaction of crossing it off my list. Maybe I was trying to prove to myself that I could stick with something from start to finish. Or maybe it was more of an intense journal entry, a method through which I could conceptualize every habit I was ashamed of, a way of planning my do-overs for every moment that I had failed the year before.
You see, there’s a thrill that comes with envisioning your dream self. A person who is you through and through yet smarter, kinder, more athletic, productive or better somehow.
But I gave up on resolutions this year. Instead, I gave myself a challenge. A challenge that began the last week of December and has found itself a place in my day-to-day. I challenged myself to read a book, from the first chapter to last. One that I genuinely wanted to read, that kept me away from my phone, that tested the limits of my continually shrinking attention span. To many, (I presume many adults) this challenge seems a bit sad.
Before the Internet, kids read! They read and read, begged for a library visit, were obsessed with classic series, and even put in the effort to read a book before its movie adaptation came out. But I swear, this was me too! Third grade me thought there was nothing better to do. I constructed a loft in my tiny closet that I didn’t have to share anymore and read on the wooden floor until my butt was sore. I guess over the years, life became busy? Or maybe I just thought, videos on social media spread messages that a book could in seconds and movies were just the same words on a screen anyway. I forgot the magic of turning these words on a page into visuals of my own mind, narratives that challenged my way of thinking, but also narratives that I could connect to mine.
So, the challenge. Simple enough. Just read one book. No matter how rough.
My Book Challenge
I read the first book of a mystery series and could not put it down. I finished it in two days…I even felt proud. After, I read the rest of the series and then started anew. I went back to my roots, the Percy Jackson crew.
I went onto BookTok and even made a list. And then brought the list to a lady I have a newly found awe for: our school’s librarian whose vast knowledge included the location of pretty much every book on our library’s gray plastic shelves.
I have now read 6 books this year, and although they haven’t all been 5 stars, I have a new love and even a screen time of less than 2 hours. I have a feeling this fascination will not fade out, but if it does I’ll just challenge myself again. To read just one book. One book and if I can’t help reading another, oh well.
I recommend giving yourself a challenge, with the expectation that you will rise to it and get from it more than expected, but with a forgiveness that if you don’t, you won’t let yourself feel dejected.
For book recommendations, check out Girl Spring contributor Sherrod Wilbanks’ March Book Reads!
