When is the last time you read a book for pleasure? For many of you, this is probably a very difficult question to answer. As for me, well, I'm in the middle of a 983-page book right now! Yes, by choice.
You see, I've found that when life hands me a free moment (something I wish would happen more frequently), I don't immediately flip open my laptop and type "netflix.com." I always have a book around. I even carry my book with me all day so that when I get to classes a bit early, I can whip out the paperback rather than my phone. It's extraordinarily fulfilling.
Today, a friend of mine turned to me before class and told me that I inspired her to read for fun, since the last time she arrived at class, she saw that I was reading and realized the novelty of the idea. I was honored that she recognized me as her inspiration, but this interaction also highlighted that for some, reading for pleasure is quite nearly outrageous, something that is worth sharing when it occurs, a true event! It shouldn't be so.
Think about if we were living in a time before all this technology, before we could watch TV from a small screen in our pockets... if you can believe it, people really found something else to fill their time! I always hear my friends saying that they want to learn how to spend more time away from their phones, and there have been many articles written about this same sort of ideal detachment. You know what will help? Go grab a book. Even just having a book in your bag will bring you one step further to a better option, to achieving that detachment. Baby steps, people.
Of course, there are plenty of people who claim to truly hate reading, who can't seem to find a pleasing novel. First of all, I think this is BS, because if there's something, anything, you're interested in, there's bound to be a book on the topic that will hold you in the same fascination. At least, that's what I believe.
And I know that for those of you who claim to want to start reading more, it's going to take a while before you're a girl like me who carries around 1,000-page novels just for fun. Like I said, baby steps. But what I have learned, though the fact that I read so much just for pleasure may seem monumental to some, it has become something I can't live without. I would hate it if, when life handed me that cherished free moment, all I had was my phone or my laptop or Mr. Netflix to turn to. Frankly, I find that a bit depressing.
Doesn't it thrill you, the prospect of taking ten minutes to learn something new, to lose yourself in the mind of another, to travel to exciting places, all without the draining hum of a screen? I hope that as more people take up the practice of reading for pleasure, just 'cuz they wanna, we all learn to understand that just because technology has an undeniable presence in our lives, it doesn't have to fill every void. A book can be the most satisfying filler of them all.
One last thought... a PSA if you will... almost every college campus has a library that's seldom utilized for its original purpose... maybe take a stroll through the stacks one time... did you know you can actually take out books that aren't for class, just because?! Happy reading.
