I love to read. The problem is that, as each new semester starts, a switch goes off in my head. I can’t find the time to read, and even when I do sit down with a book, the words come in and out of focus; three pages go by and I can’t seem to remember a single detail of what I just read. Suddenly, piles of half-read and unread books appear around my room, staring at me.
The most frustrating part is that the desire to read is still there. I miss reading when I’m not doing it. I crave the feeling of getting lost in words and imagination. But, I can’t shake the familiar reader’s block that reappears every time I have to buckle down and centre my academic mind. Why does this happen?
Alana Stancer, a Master’s student in Occupational Therapy at University of Toronto, explains that at the height of semester busyness, “I feel like I don’t have the time [to read], and the time I take away from school, I feel guilty.” She goes on to say that during online school, “that guilt is exponential.”
Unlike scrolling through social media or watching a TV show that allows the mind to be blankly distracted, reading demands focus and a commitment to the story in order to achieve a sense of escape. But, when the heaviness of guilt or when the boundary of school/personal life is shattered, an internal noise can take over, preventing any quiet concentration.
For Jordyn Kimmel, a fourth year Creative Industries student at Ryerson University, the buzzing remnants of an online school day push her away from picking up a book, even if she blocks off time for it during the day. She says: “I was doing readings all day, I was in class all day, I saw a friend, and then I came home. I thought, I’m going to read when I get home. But then it’s just, I’ve been in my head the entire day… and what I’m finding is that I’m craving more social time. So when I sit down with a book, it’s not that I’m less focused on it, I feel a little jittery… I never want reading to feel like a chore. So, I’ll never make myself read. It should be casual.”
Kimmel went on to say that what she loves about reading is that “you can flip a page and feel like you’re progressing. You’re doing something productive but it is also so magical to be able to visualize a whole world in your head.” Reading is a productive passtime. Reader’s block may also occur because at the end of a long screen-filled day, we just want a break from the strain of productivity, whether it’s for school or for pleasure.
The reality of reading is that it is an isolating activity that pushes people further inside their own heads, even if it is for enjoyment, personal learning or to exercise the imagination that internal remoteness persists. Sammy Stancer, a fourth year Communications student at Wilfrid Laurier University, shares that, when living with friends at school, “it can be very distracting when I know [they] are all hanging out and I have chosen to isolate and read a book. I would rather be with my friends than [read] so it is harder to find the time.”
What can we do to confront the aggravating reality of reader’s block?
1. Incorporate Reading Into Your Daily Routine
As Zach Esser finishes up his last semester as a Business Management and Hospitality student at Guelph University, he draws on the knowledge from Atomic Habits by James Clear to incorporate reading into his daily routine. “Every morning I go down and with my coffee, before I start my day because I don’t want to start my day yet, I just read a chapter. If the chapter is three pages, it’s three pages. If the chapter is 10 pages, it’s 10 pages. The routine aspect has made it easier to read.”
2. Make It Short and Digestible
Esser goes on to say that James Clear in Atomic Habits stresses “the importance of if you want to do something, you have to make it easy to do. Make it fast, make it simple, and put it in your line of sight. If that means you’re doing one page, that doesn’t matter. The point is you’re doing it.”
Pick up books that are simple to read and that lead you into a reader’s flow with ease.
3. Move To a Different Space
For a lot of us, online school has transformed our bedrooms into a miscellaneous space where every type of activity exists; from school to work to sleep to physical activity and personal time. This sparks an uneasy persistence from one activity to the next, setting off an angsty inability to concentrate. The solution: Move to a different room where reading can be nurtured rather than snuffed out.
4. Experiment With Audiobooks and Multitasking
A common source of reader’s block is feeling like you simply don’t have enough time in the day to read a book. Sammy Stancer has discovered that audiobooks have greatly helped her keep up with reading. With audiobooks, the option to multitask while walking, cooking, cleaning, showering and getting ready, opens up an array of possibilities to fit books and storytelling into your day.
5. Make Reading Social
Find a group of friends or people to start a book club with, giving you a social setting to engage in books and discussion. This strategy also adds a touch of accountability, as you keep up with the reading pace of the group. Sisters, Sammy and Alana Stancer, have a book club of their own with a collection of friends that has kept them on track in reading their books while fostering community in the process.
All of this is to say that reading should nourish the mind, not add burden to our lives. Maddie Carew, a fourth year Life Science student at Queen’s University, explains that the desire to read during school semesters ebbs and flows. During school, when her time is taken up by readings and lectures, resentment starts to corrupt the act of reading for pleasure. “I start to villainize reading and I don’t want to do that,” she states. Carew stresses that you must give yourself permission to follow those ebbs and flows.
Let’s start the social act of reading, now! Here are the books that have been sitting around my room, waiting to be read. What’s on your list?
My Reading List That Won’t Stop Staring Back
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
- Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown