I know we all live in a very busy world and can’t help ourselves but think we don’t have any spare time for our hobbies like reading, playing music or whatever each one of us enjoys doing once we “find some time”. I kept promising myself I would read more once I do “this” and once I finish “that”. However, at some point, I actually confronted myself with my own lies and had to admit how often I was indeed lying I didn’t have the time. Humans are champions in finding lots of excuses and there are always countless to-dos on our list. So, how can we find the time for our hobbies??? Well, we either learn to find some time to do those things we enjoy so much or we get old by wishing we had the time to do so. Today, I would love to share my story with you and help you find that spare time for your hobbies like reading more books. Furthermore, I’m sharing the list of my favorite books I’ve read this year and I can assure you I really loved/enjoyed all of them.
As much as I cherish the joys of genuine companionship, I do love the glory of solitude. This is a pleasure that has deepened for me with age. Often, solitude can fill me with peacefulness and a simple gratitude for being alive. – Klein Daniel
My book-worm story
Imagine this: As a teenager, reading was something I hated in an incredible way. Just the thought of reading made me almost cry. Not kidding! Nobody (not even myself) understood why, because I loved school, I always had good grades (not counting math here) and you would think I was instantly running home to slip into my “book-worm-role” again. A big NOPE here!
As far as I can remember, my reluctance towards reading ended at the age of 20, which means seven years ago. I can’t believe I’ve spent 20 years of my life by reading (probably) less than 3 to 4 books per year….and those ones because I was made to do so. A very sad story in my current adult-eyes.
I´ve often asked myself why I hated reading so much and I think I finally found out why. My theory is that everything came with my literature/language teacher who disliked me sooooo much. I’m actually pretty sure she made me hate books. Every time I would talk about a book we had to read for the class, she would criticize my point of view. This, of course made me incredibly sad and mad in a way. Back then, I simply couldn’t understand how a person can understand a book in a wrong way. I still can’t. The point of reading and talking about books is to share thoughts and find all about what other people think/thought about it. There is no right or wrong. Don’t you think? Luckily, I “found my way back” and I enjoy reading more than anything else at the moment. This is why I’m sharing a few tips on how to find that lost time and read more during our busy days. 🙂
Tips: How to find the precious time to read more books
I’m more than happy I’ve discovered reading for me (again). The sad story about it is that I’ve discovered it at a point in my life I was quite busy working, studying and doing some other cool stuff. I wished to read more for years. I now wish I’ve written down all those “I wish” sentences to remember myself how often I lied to my own self. I lied. And we all lie. Constantly. We wish this, we want that. But, do we really want it?
Because, I learned, there is always time for anything we wish to do, we simply have to create it.
Yes, you’ve read it well. We can create time. You ask yourself how? Well, how about these tips:
- Put your phone on side for an hour and read or do whatever fills your hearth with joy.
- Read on the way to work (bus, subway).
- Read while you wait for people, public transport or in diverse lines. There is one huge benefit of reading while waiting: You’ll forget you’re waiting. You know how annoyed it can be to wait? Well, that’s because we get bored and impatient. Take your book with you and you’ll avoid those negative moments which sometimes ruin your whole day.
- Read in your lunch break! Honestly, we talk to people all the time – online and offline. Use your break and do whatever YOU want to do and don’t feel obliged to spend this time with your colleagues and do extra small talking.
- Read before you go to bed (forget your phone, you won’t miss anything important).
- Borrow books from libraries: This is the one that really motivated me to read more. I started borrowing books in the city library a while ago and the motivational factor about it is: I can keep the books for 14 days only. So, when a book is good, I give my best to read it very quickly, otherwise I can’t finish it before I need to give it back. Result: at least two books per month! I call it a progress! 🙂
- Get an e-reader: I know there are many of you out there with the same thoughts right now: But the book feels better, I love turning pages in a real book and, and, and. I very much feel you, BUT: Remember the last time you wanted to read in bed and didn’t want to annoy your partner with the light? Or the last time you wanted to highlight a quote from it and didn’t have a pen? Or the last beach vacation you were not able to read because the sun was too “strong”? Or the book was too heavy to fit into your (already) heavy suitcase. The list goes on and some of you might have gotten my point already. 🙂
I still couldn’t convince you and you think you don’t have any time to read? Well, here comes another tip: Go to your app-store, search for the app called “quality time” and install it. It’s gonna track your phone usage on a daily basis…and trust me, after a single day, you’ll realize what a liar you are. 🙂
My reading list from January 2018 until September 2018
- There Is No App for Happiness – Max Storm
- Driving Miss Norma – Tim Bauerschmidt
- The Gifts of Imperfection – Brene Brown
- The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down – Sunim Haenim
- The Happiness Project – Rubin Gretschen
- The Sun and Her Flowers – Kaur Rupi
- China Rich Girlfriend – Kwan Kevin
- Holiday in the Hamptons – Morgan Sarah
- To Fight Against the Age – Riemen Rob
- Almost Perfect – Mallery Susan
- Moonlight Over Manhattan – Morgan Sarah
- Look to Your Wife – Byrne Paula
- Paid For – Moran Rachel
- What Motivates Getting Things Done – Lamia Mary
- The Sweet Life in Paris – Lebovitz David
- Inside the Wave – Dunmore Helen
- The Power of Habbit – Duhigg Charles
- Mild and Honey – Kaur Rupi
- Shame Nation – Scheff Sue
- Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change it – Klein Daniel
- Bitch Doctrine – Penny Laurie
- The Myths of Happiness – Lyubomirsky Sonja
- The Shack – William P. Young
- The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google – Scott Galloway
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck – Mark Manson
I actually wanted to also add one favorite quote from each one of the books, but I realized the article would have been way too long. This is why I decided to write another blog post highlighting my favorite quotes for this year! 🙂 How do you like the idea?
Ein Food- und reisesüchtiger Mensch, der sich auch mit 28 über kleine Dinge freuen kann: Eine Schoko-Mousse-Torte lässt jede Sorge zumindest kurz verschwinden. Allerdings nur dann, wenn die Schokolade dunkel ist.
Auf “The Cosmopolitas” schreibe ich gerne über alles, was so in meinem Kopf herumschwirrt: Über diverse Gedanken, Essen, Reisen, Mode, und, und, und…
|| Sonst bin ich…
…eine wissbegierige Persönlichkeit, eine Predigerin des lebenslangen Lernens und bald eine Matrosin.:)
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