Why you should read more

“Reading” the word itself is looked upon as bothersome nowadays. And to make a habit out of it, so far fetched from our sight. We have heard from here and there why reading is important yet aren’t fully convinced. And to be very honest, we don’t want to bother ourselves by reading. We feel like we are doing well already and this habit of reading is something that is forced upon us. Thus, we try to escape from it with all our might until of course exams. On top of that, reading apart from that of course books seems ambitious, futuristic and out of reach. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be this way always. Because if we keep on repelling from books this way, we are missing out so many things in life. Reading is a very beautiful and peaceful feeling unlike our predisposed opinions. And it was when I started reading; I understood why reading is important and why we need to form the habit of reading because again if we keep on repelling from books, we are also slipping the very chance to change our life drastically once and all for better. I can tell you confidently it is that powerful. So, based on my experience, I will tell you in this article why it is important and share with you the joy in reading with tips to help you cultivate the habit of reading in yourself too. It is quarantine time and let’s hopefully utilize this time for our own betterment.

It is inquisitive to know if reading is good then why we are not reading in the first place. It’s partly because our education system has made something as pleasurable like reading as a headache to us. It’s because our examinations are taken in such a way that they test our memory. We all know how limited the memory is in our computers and phones and to compare that to our little brain seems unjust. We tend to forget over time. I really don’t need to prolong that much time because we can forget just what we read right now. Imagine how painful it is sitting in exams trying to remember what you learnt just to remember that just after submitting the papers and stepping out from examination halls. So frustrating, isn’t it? It is just so frustrating that I am smiling while I am writing this. Don’t worry my friend. I have also been there and done that. That’s why we keep on being repelled from reading. We behave like we are reading for exams and others but not for ourselves. We just skip over all the process and torment ourselves for not being able to read and keep reading. Well, I don’t have a problem with memorizing, especially in our medical field, we need to have answers at the tip of our mouth in a split second because it is a matter of life and death. Well, what I do have problems with is when we focus on memorizing rather than understanding and that creates a huge hollow in our knowledge. Having this mentality of reading for the sake of reading prevents us from understanding life because so many things are there to be explored yet remains untouched because of our limited horizon. Reading broadens our horizon and we can understand the world and our life in depth that we have never imagined. We can grow as we read and the whole experience humbles us. We are curious by nature for knowledge and there is great satisfaction that we can get when we erase the gap between what we didn’t know and what we know and doing so I can tell you good books can change your life drastically. There is so much joy when we finally understand something, when we acquire knowledge that fills the hollow that we created ourselves.

It was when I read good books that I understood if you want to do good, you can do good. If you want to change for the better, you can. You can still add something of value to your life and to others’ too no matter whatever you think. No matter how late it is. No matter how your mind convinces you can’t, how it isn’t worth it. There might be countless reasons to bind us but just that one hope can get us going. The difference we can make. We might think that we are just a mere person and can’t do anything. We can. Maybe we wouldn’t shake the whole world but we can still do something at least for someone. For the world is changed by who does than who doubts. Reading builds belief inside us and that belief would provide us confidence to move ahead. Other than that, we all have our predisposed perception and biases and look at life the way it is. Much of it is derived from what we learnt through books, surroundings and situations. In my mother tongue Nepali Language there is a saying that I can roughly translate to “In life we learn either by reading or by being in a situation”. It is indeed true isn’t it? We learn by going to school and there are so many things in life that we learnt by facing or being in a situation not by just reading books. And all the things that we learnt have shaped our thoughts and how we are right now. But what happens is that we just stop there and that leads to us accepting whatever we already know without a filter. We wouldn’t challenge whatever thoughts we have because it is just there. And we wouldn’t know whether these thoughts are true or not and even more shocking than that the impact of thoughts has on our life. True education is not limited to school, it is continued. And by reading, it felt like I had a mentor with me when I was going through hard times and had a profound impact on me on being who I am right now.

Reading isn’t limited to productivity. I feel like reading is a whole new world itself and not just limited to one topic. There are books about fiction, art, love, finance and many more that we will get fascinated by the depth of it. Just like our life. Life is about so much more than just working.

“Life is another thing and reading a book is another.”― Nitin Namdeo

And good books change you. There is so much in the book. There is part of someone's life already lived. Since, our time is precious, we could gain what they have to say and apply it for ourselves even without going through the hurdles. Many successful people that we see right now like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Pewdiepie read books consistently. Even Warren Buffet has said this

“Read 500 pages like this every day,” Buffett said to the students, while reaching toward a stack of manuals and papers. “That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”

This is the difference between successful people and normal people. Successful people never stop learning even if they reach the height of success. I don’t necessarily mean we should read only for success but reading has so much benefit in finally shaping who we are and how we take life as a whole. Let’s be a life learner. Our learning being never limited to knowledge we gained from school but growing as a tree. The tree which is strong already doesn’t stay strong amidst the storm. But the tree which can bend as the wind sways is the tree that can stay strong. It shows how being flexible can help us cope with life situations. And when we give in to reading, we can effectively deal with what life throws upon us and handle it gracefully and move along with life.

That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.– Jhumpa Lahiri

I think of books as a means of time travelling. We could travel back and forth between what it was then and what it was now. In science fiction, we can even imagine what our future would look like.We can pass what time we have gracefully too with reading books. I can relate to books as time travelling from my own personal experience. When I recall my childhood, I could look at it happily as there are so many fond memories which were mostly associated with books and music. Reading those pages of books again brings back my childhood. Back in my school days, I didn’t have a cell phone. When we used to get a long vacation in winter and after final exams, it was good but you just have so much time you don’t know what to do. Books have always been an escape from reality for me. I would look forward to what books I will read. Thankfully my brother used to bring so many books. I used to read classics from Charles Dickens to Mark Twain to William Shakespeare to Charlotte Bronte . It was such a good and wonderful feeling to get lost in books in characters. I could see myself in the character’s shoe and there was always a beautiful lesson to learn from it. Time used to pass by and I would have finished the book in no time. I don’t know why but I always wanted to read the book I had just finished once again to understand the story deeper and to fall in the story again deeper. There used to be a period of library and I used to read autobiographies of famous people and different other stories that inspire me to this date. It was a great joy to read books from essay collections to short stories to novel the books I used to get as prizes from winning competitions. As I grew older, I kept on reading. I used to read during my college days. That was when I got my cell phone and I would read through pdf under the blanket. I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho which still has a profound impact on me.

But when I came to university, I just stopped reading that much. I can’t say exactly whether I was busy or I was free then. But what I can say was that I was feeling all sorts of emotions one after another. I felt like I was in rut. I just didn’t know what I was doing. Everything felt overwhelming. I know I have to do something, I cannot continue this way always. It was when I started reading books then I realized the way I was looking at life and the way I was taking life was harming me on so many levels. I found a friend again in books.That friend who was always there for me. This time I also invested in books like self help. I also expanded my horizon and read books on finance. When I felt lost, I would re read those lines from my favorite books again and again and find my purpose within them. I learn to grow with them as time passes, growing calmer and happier than ever. Through this experience, I can tell reading isn’t counting how much books we read as medals. What matters is in which book you are investing in and how much you have understood. And the most important, reading doesn’t work until you put in practice what you read.

Reading is very important, but there is one thing that is much more important than that: What you read! And guess now, there is also something more important than what you read: What you understand, what you internalize! Because even if you read the most perfect book in the world, if you do not understand it, if you do not internalize it, that book is unread!― Mehmet Murat ildan

Reading is like a friend to me. It helped me get through such hard times. It has fueled me to go through life with hope and keep going. It motivated to open my blog and tell my stories of what I learnt courageously. It has given me a new purpose in life. I felt I was lost. But I could regain myself through books. So, I want to tell you from this article that we should read more because we never know what we are going through and how a different thinking can change our life drastically like it did to mine. There is so much to life that is beyond our imagination. We don't know everything from birth. That's why we cannot blame ourselves for not knowing before. Through reading a whole new world opens to us with its potentiality. There is great joy and peace in knowing through reading. Knowledge is very powerful. It can change our thinking, our behavior and our actions. Many writers have utilized this strength of communicating through writing, through books such that coming generation would be able to guide into good path. But now it is sad that we are not reaching to our potential when we have all the resources. We are lost. We are turning away more from reading. It is sad but I think if we keep on promoting reading, we can fill this gap of separation we have between our understanding and knowledge.
Still now, I don't think I know everything about life. The possibility is endless and through books I want to dive deeper, hold on to this purpose I have and keep going. Often, we don't want to read books these days. But if we give in to little each day, it would accumulate just like Warren Buffet said and we will become a better person than that we were yesterday. Hard times in life teach us so many things. A good book can become a friend during those hard times.

Now, that we know reading is important I can help you with some tips to cultivate that habit within you. It starts with not taking reading as a compulsion but as a way to learn life. Then designating time for reading. When it comes to me, I read immediately after I had meals or before I slept. That way, I read every day. Try looking for good books because what you will become is what you read. Some can be found through recommendations, some you can find yourself and give others as recommendations. As I grew more open to reading, I would look into recommendations and be genuinely taken back by the new knowledge I got and seeing how good that book was. My friend Reechashree has recently written a beautiful article on what books she recommends and you can go through them. As your friend, I would also like to recommend to you one book The 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin. It was the very book that changed my life. I have read that book more than 30 times and I still go back and read it whenever I feel stuck. You can go through it. You will love it. We are in a beautiful world now that we can access books in digital forms too. So, I would advise you to utilize that opportunity and be careful enough to not strain your eyes longer by focusing on it for a longer time. Don’t hasten to finish the book. As I already told you, it doesn’t matter how much books you read, what matters is what you understand from them and feel free to go through them more than one time. And remember to apply what you read.

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Because that’s how powerful reading books in shaping the man. So, this concludes my article but before that I have one exciting news to share with you. I would be starting to write a book summary and review in the near future in my blogs along with my usual writing so that I could share what I learnt and together we can grow. Knowledge is enlightening and I am thrilled to start this journey with you. It is a beautiful opportunity for me as well. So please stay in contact through my Facebook page, Instagram or Pinterest. I would like to end it with saying let’s be a life learner. Life opens up more when we try to read more.

I hope my article is helpful to you. If you have any book recommendations, please do tell me. I would love to read your book recommendations. Stay safe. Let’s keep growing. Let’s keep reading.