What was up with us in middle school? How were we reading entire novels in a day, begging our moms to drive us to the nearest bookstore for another, and starting it that night?Â
Maybe, like me, you’ve found yourself envious of your middle school self. She loved books so much that she spent all of her free time reading. There was no social media consuming all of her attention and energy. The life she lived was much more blissful than the chaos you feel yourself surrounded by now.Â
You want to find your way back to that girl. You’ve seen BookTok’s popularity and many people around you starting to read again. But you can’t seem to make that first move: actually picking up a book.Â
I was in the exact same position as you a few months ago. Today, reading is a comfort hobby for me. I dream of the full bookshelves in my future home and anxiously await the next package with a book I’ve ordered. I gush about the new book I’m reading to anyone who will listen. I have a part of my middle school self back. And you can too.
Here are the steps I took to reclaim my bookworm status:
1 Watch other people talk about books.
I found that, in order to get myself excited about books again, I needed to watch other people be excited first. So, I went on Tiktok and YouTube and watched videos of people who had already reached my goal. Their passion for books inspired my own. When a book they talked about interested me, I would add it to my Goodreads TBR.
2 Take time to find a book that interests you.
You want the first book you read for pleasure again to be a good one, not one that will disappoint you and ruin your motivation to read. That’s why you need to pick one that genuinely excites you. Spend an hour at the bookstore, browsing until you find the perfect description on the inside or back cover. I would argue that a thriller or a YA novel would be a good first choice; something easy-to-read and fast-paced may keep you interested and motivated.
3 Set aside time every day to read.
It’s crucial to give yourself time to read. At this point you may be thinking, “but I have no time to read!” I thought that too. As a full-time college student involved in several extracurriculars, I often think that I have very little free time. The truth is, though, that we have more time than we think. We spend SO much time scrolling aimlessly on our phones every day until hours have passed, unnoticed. Your new reading habit is going to take a chunk out of the time you usually spend on your phone, but I think you’ll find yourself more fulfilled this way.Â
4 Put away your phone while reading.
Not only are you replacing phone time with reading, but you’re going to want to put your phone out of sight while that book is in your hands. Our phones are great for many things, but they’ve destroyed our attention spans. If you’re like me, you may be reading and feel tempted to scroll on TikTok for more immediate entertainment. Keeping these two things separate will help rebuild your attention span and allow you to actually enjoy what you’re reading.
5 Treat reading as a reward, not a responsibility.
Reading is fun: let it stay that way. Don’t let yourself feel like this journey to read again is a burden on your shoulders. It should be a relaxing hobby, something that allows you to escape from the many responsibilities you have day-to-day. Even if you finish one book in a year, as long as you enjoyed it, it was time well spent. Give yourself a break! And if you ever find yourself not enjoying reading like you used to, your middle school self won’t be mad at you. She’d be proud of you for choosing your happiness and growing as a person. I wish the best of luck to you in chasing your bookworm dreams. If you’ve somehow stumbled across this article and are wishing you had reading mutuals, feel free to add my Goodreads (just look up my name) and we can accomplish your go