Lily: This week Nora and I took on the daily challenge of reading for fun. I decided to read Educated by Tara Westover. I have to admit I'm not much of a reader. I've always thought reading was too slow, and after finishing schoolwork I'm never particularly keen to read more. Despite my apprehension toward this week, I really enjoyed having the opportunity to slow down and read for my own pleasure. During a normal week I’m so busy among school, homework, and activities that I often don't have time to calm down and relax. Having a dedicated time to read allowed me to settle and slow my thoughts down. Each day throughout the week I found myself increasingly focused on the reading and less anxious during my reading time. I also noticed that my focus when reading for school improved, and I didn’t rush through as much. In the future, I'm going to try and integrate reading into my daily routine.
Nora: My goal for myself this week was to read for about 5-10 minutes every night. I was originally planning on more but soon realized that my homework and sleep schedule is not very flexible. This week, I started a new book called Atomic Habits by James Clear. It’s all about making minor changes in your life to benefit your mental health, academic/career success and overall well-being. It was really interesting to read this book in particular because the purpose of Lily and my article is to try implementing changes in our lives to see how they affect us.
Similar to Lily, during the school year I don’t find myself reading for fun very often, so I was a little worried I would get bored or feel like this was another homework assignment. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the first few chapters of this book and was excited to continue reading each day. It reads more like a novel instead of a self-help book, and it was really inspiring.
I normally go on my phone, specifically social media, before I go to bed, so taking a little bit of time to read instead of scroll really helped me relax, and I ended up falling asleep more easily most nights of the week. In the future, I want to try and find more time in my schedule for reading books I enjoy, whether that means cutting back on my phone usage or being more efficient with doing my homework. As long as you find a book that doesn’t feel like a chore to get through, I would absolutely recommend that everyone tries to read for fun, at least once in a while.
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