Oh to read…again

Oh how I have missed reading….reading for enjoyment (not study); reading for knowledge (of the non-work related kind) and reading as self-care….time spent sitting with a book completely engrossed in a story, coffee in hand and the rest of the world switched off.

Reading is, and always has been my favourite form of self-care…even as a young girl laying on my bed reading well past my bedtime I understood the importance of reading for my soul.

Unfortunately, it is a past time I have long neglected. A myriad of work and family commitments forcing me to push aside my love of reading until such time as I am not so busy.

It is this ‘magical’ future time; where I envisioned spending my days devouring book after book completely untethered by the real world; that I have come to realise may never come. It has become abundantly clear that such freedom may never exist and unless I make time for reading I will be missing an integral part of who I am.

And this realisation that has lead me to set myself a challenge. A challenge to read at least 30 books this year…now I realise to some 30 books in a year is a ‘cake walk’ and as my daughter would say with all sincerity “I love that for you” (I love that kid)….but having read only 10 books in the past few years (that weren’t required texts), I may struggle.

I’m hoping not. I’m hoping that 30 books is just the start of this year’s reading; with so many books/authors capturing my interest and being added to the ever increasing list of books to be read. Hopefully 30 books is just an under-estimation bought on by fear of saying something out loud.

Either way, having set myself this challenge, I am looking forward to carving out as much reading time as I can in my day and have already begun taking a book with me everywhere I go (a reminder of my younger self). I can now be found reading in my lunch break, fork in one hand, book in another; and am finding joy in time spent reading again.