Ohai, everyone~! It’s story time. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and some snacks because this’ll be a looooong bumbum rant. XD Ready? :)
Years ago, I was someone who could fly through pages and finish at least a book or two in a day. More if I step away from the book only to eat, drink or go to the bathroom. Oftentimes, I would be reading different books simultaneously. I'll have one in my bag, a different one on my bedside, a digital copy, and at times, I will pick up another one to take home from the bookstore. Pretty sure I’m not alone in this. You guys can relate, right~?...Um, right??...Please tell me you can relate. (；ω；) I just have to have a book regardless the time or situation. Nowadays, I could hardly open one. Even if I do, I stop midway or less. The rare instances when I do get through a book, took a week or an entire month to finish. Yep! So frustrating. My boyfrannn already calls me a Tsundoku (roughly means someone who buys a lot of books but doesn't read them) because I still buy books hoping I could get back to—or at least half of—how I used to read back then.
As I've mentioned in an earlier entry, it all began after I challenged myself to read at least a hundred books in a year. Whenever I finish a book, I would post a photo of its cover with a quote from it that I really liked on my old Facebook. I think I decided to move to Goodreads shortly after because I don't recall the photos in that album ever reaching 30. I was enthusiastic about Goodreads because the app allows me to record and track my reading progress, find new titles to read and rate and review them, among others. I recorded about 22 books in it. And then, book accounts in Instagram became a thing and I forgot all about goodreads... oops! ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶
Anyhooo~ it was going well...or so I thought. Let's now move on to the spiral of events that led to the downfall of my reading life—um, what? XD About halfway through the year, my phone containing the huge amount of ebooks I was planning to read got stolen. UGH! This really bummed me out because the app where all these were saved has stopped its operation and, hence, cannot be downloaded anymore. I usually turn to my phone when I don't have the physical copy of the book (saves money if you're not sure you'd like the book enough to buy your own copy) or for bedtime reads. I get most of my reading done from afternoon to dawn so I had no choice but to submit to technology when it's already late since I like my bedroom dark. I cannot hold a reading position for long and it's tiresome to clip and re-clip my booklight *coughs*LAZY!_(´~`」 ∠)*coughs*. Plus I'm worried about getting my book folded or wrinkled while tossing and turning on my bed. After that, I opted for books I already own physically. I covered fewer pages than when I still had the old phone, though. As the year progressed, I got more and more occupied with school stuff. I tried to at least finish 2-3 books a week so I can still meet my quota. Three books became two then one and then one in two weeks...you get the idea.
The event that ultimately put a halt to my reading adventures is my blasted sleeping pattern. Pretty sure I got to at least 60 books before I finally gave up on the challenge. This was maybe around September to early October at the most. It got too hard for me to read because there was no longer an in-between to my energy level. It's either 'my body is already screaming for sleep while my mind won't shut down' (or maybe it was the other way around—I don't know) or 'I have too much energy and I couldn't stay put'. There were days when it feels like you want to do a lot of things successively or all at once, too distracted to even read a decent amount of pages. And then there were times when you couldn't process a single word because they just swim in your friggin' head. My attention span became as short as probably a toddler's. I could be listening to you one minute then my mind would suddenly leap from one random idea to errands I don't even need to do at that moment. It sucks. I looked and felt dumb as I constantly have to ask people to repeat what was said. It drained me of my will to do anything other than sleep.
People are certainly tired of hearing that I will try and read again blah blah blah...I will read one to a few books then I stop for months. Same old routine yadda yadda yadda.. This blog is even one of my failed attempts to get back into reading. Since it was rare for me to find people who read the same books as I do, I set this up so I could write my thoughts instead—at least that was the plan. Because, honestly, all but one book entry here are my old posts from different platforms that I managed to salvage. Part of me beats myself up for not writing about those books I've read during my 'slump'. It's bad enough I'm reading a looooooot less but I couldn't even commit the time to sit and document my thoughts about them here? Wow, me. What's the use of this anyway? I don't really know anymore.
I was pondering about what to do with 'the slump' yesterday (after doing nothing but sleep for about a day and a half) as I searched for titles I might want to read "hopefully" next year. And I thought: “NEXT YEAR!? Why not today? I mean, yooohooo meee~ ƪ(ಠ_ಠ)ʃ What difference does it make, right? RIGHT!” I'm always too hard on myself. So what if I don't finish it again? Or if I finish it and I couldn't write my thoughts about it? I just need to read. It's all that should matter. So I grabbed four books to choose from, got the heck out before I could even change my mind or get lazy, and walked to the coffee shop overlooking a bay just before sunset.
I opened a book again. And that alone was nice. (๑˘ᴗ˘ )
If you’re experiencing the same thing or even a wee bit similar (doesn’t even need to be limited to reading and books), don’t be too hard on yourself. One step at a time. Small ones count, too! One page at a time, or a paragraph—heck even a word! Appreciate your every progress. No matter how little it seems. Because one day? You’ll make it.
Open your book today.
PS. I made another Goodreads account. *shrugs*
PPS. Please excuse my grammar and possible typos. I'm babbling the night away.
Verbose story time coming through. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Years ago, I was someone who could fly through pages and finish at least a book or two in a day. More if I step away from the book only to eat, drink or go to the bathroom. Oftentimes, I would be reading different books simultaneously. I'll have one in my bag, a different one on my bedside, a digital copy, and at times, I will pick up another one to take home from the bookstore. Pretty sure I’m not alone in this. You guys can relate, right~?...Um, right??...Please tell me you can relate. (；ω；) I just have to have a book regardless the time or situation. Nowadays, I could hardly open one. Even if I do, I stop midway or less. The rare instances when I do get through a book, took a week or an entire month to finish. Yep! So frustrating. My boyfrannn already calls me a Tsundoku (roughly means someone who buys a lot of books but doesn't read them) because I still buy books hoping I could get back to—or at least half of—how I used to read back then.
As I've mentioned in an earlier entry, it all began after I challenged myself to read at least a hundred books in a year. Whenever I finish a book, I would post a photo of its cover with a quote from it that I really liked on my old Facebook. I think I decided to move to Goodreads shortly after because I don't recall the photos in that album ever reaching 30. I was enthusiastic about Goodreads because the app allows me to record and track my reading progress, find new titles to read and rate and review them, among others. I recorded about 22 books in it. And then, book accounts in Instagram became a thing and I forgot all about goodreads... oops! ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶
Anyhooo~ it was going well...or so I thought. Let's now move on to the spiral of events that led to the downfall of my reading life—um, what? XD About halfway through the year, my phone containing the huge amount of ebooks I was planning to read got stolen. UGH! This really bummed me out because the app where all these were saved has stopped its operation and, hence, cannot be downloaded anymore. I usually turn to my phone when I don't have the physical copy of the book (saves money if you're not sure you'd like the book enough to buy your own copy) or for bedtime reads. I get most of my reading done from afternoon to dawn so I had no choice but to submit to technology when it's already late since I like my bedroom dark. I cannot hold a reading position for long and it's tiresome to clip and re-clip my booklight *coughs*LAZY!_(´~`」 ∠)*coughs*. Plus I'm worried about getting my book folded or wrinkled while tossing and turning on my bed. After that, I opted for books I already own physically. I covered fewer pages than when I still had the old phone, though. As the year progressed, I got more and more occupied with school stuff. I tried to at least finish 2-3 books a week so I can still meet my quota. Three books became two then one and then one in two weeks...you get the idea.
The event that ultimately put a halt to my reading adventures is my blasted sleeping pattern. Pretty sure I got to at least 60 books before I finally gave up on the challenge. This was maybe around September to early October at the most. It got too hard for me to read because there was no longer an in-between to my energy level. It's either 'my body is already screaming for sleep while my mind won't shut down' (or maybe it was the other way around—I don't know) or 'I have too much energy and I couldn't stay put'. There were days when it feels like you want to do a lot of things successively or all at once, too distracted to even read a decent amount of pages. And then there were times when you couldn't process a single word because they just swim in your friggin' head. My attention span became as short as probably a toddler's. I could be listening to you one minute then my mind would suddenly leap from one random idea to errands I don't even need to do at that moment. It sucks. I looked and felt dumb as I constantly have to ask people to repeat what was said. It drained me of my will to do anything other than sleep.
People are certainly tired of hearing that I will try and read again blah blah blah...I will read one to a few books then I stop for months. Same old routine yadda yadda yadda.. This blog is even one of my failed attempts to get back into reading. Since it was rare for me to find people who read the same books as I do, I set this up so I could write my thoughts instead—at least that was the plan. Because, honestly, all but one book entry here are my old posts from different platforms that I managed to salvage. Part of me beats myself up for not writing about those books I've read during my 'slump'. It's bad enough I'm reading a looooooot less but I couldn't even commit the time to sit and document my thoughts about them here? Wow, me. What's the use of this anyway? I don't really know anymore.
I was pondering about what to do with 'the slump' yesterday (after doing nothing but sleep for about a day and a half) as I searched for titles I might want to read "hopefully" next year. And I thought: “NEXT YEAR!? Why not today? I mean, yooohooo meee~ ƪ(ಠ_ಠ)ʃ What difference does it make, right? RIGHT!” I'm always too hard on myself. So what if I don't finish it again? Or if I finish it and I couldn't write my thoughts about it? I just need to read. It's all that should matter. So I grabbed four books to choose from, got the heck out before I could even change my mind or get lazy, and walked to the coffee shop overlooking a bay just before sunset.
I opened a book again. And that alone was nice. (๑˘ᴗ˘ )
If you’re experiencing the same thing or even a wee bit similar (doesn’t even need to be limited to reading and books), don’t be too hard on yourself. One step at a time. Small ones count, too! One page at a time, or a paragraph—heck even a word! Appreciate your every progress. No matter how little it seems. Because one day? You’ll make it.
Open your book today.
 |
| My View Overlooking the Bay |
PS. I made another Goodreads account. *shrugs*
PPS. Please excuse my grammar and possible typos. I'm babbling the night away.
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