First off, the 300-400 pages of text I needed to read every week during my first term was ludicrous. However, I was able to, and still can, keep up with my personal reading. Whether it is because I’m a writer and must read on the side in order to better my craft, or the simple fact that I am not a POLI major (however, I do want to take POLI 100 next year so we’ll see how this ages), I will never know how I still look at books with a sense of fondness.
And also, here’s what nobody tells you about taking the social sciences: once you’re introduced to Karl Marx, he’ll never leave you. He’s in the sociology textbook. He’ll pop in and out of philosophy. He’ll occasionally haunt you in your English class.
There’s no escape.
You’ve been warned...
So how do I keep up with my reading??
I try to go to bed by midnight, that is what I strive for, but alas, not even I can deny the endless social media scrolling until 2:00 am, or writing that essay... or perhaps I did manage to pick up my book and power through more than ‘just a couple of pages.’
(Or maybe I’m writing a blog post into the wee hours of the morning in an attempt to avoid my to-do list. Don’t worry, Grammarly has looked over this, and so will my fresh eyes eight hours later.)
Or, my stubborn ass will keep me sat in front of an assignment into the ungodly hours of the morning, stuck between being too tired to call it quits for the night and sitting there scrolling through TikTok, saying, “I’ll find the energy to continue it in 5 more minutes” (it’s always 5 more minutes...). I’ve been working on building a habit of just accepting I’m too tired and won’t pick my assignment back up and that it’s better to go to bed instead of watching 2 more hours that could have been sleep go by. So far, I’m looking less zombie-ish.
It happens more than I’d like to admit.
I’m also a sucker for revenge bedtime procrastination.
It just happens.
So, when it’s a good night, and I’m on track to sleep by midnight, I try to pick up my book before then. Whether it’s 15 minutes before bed, 5 minutes, half an hour, or perhaps an hour, that is how I’m getting my pages in. Sometimes it’s just a sentence that I read before I go to bed. Sometimes it’s just a word.
Reading is reading. And reading is progress.
So where’s this time coming from, then?
I had an embarrassing trip down the analytics page of daily hours spent on Instagram and TikTok, and I learned I have more time than I thought. A lot more.
Not that I had much of a habit of scrolling social media before bed, thankfully, but instead of letting myself pick up social media during my study breaks and watching the clock (there goes 30 minutes instead of 15!), I’ve been taking more productive and smaller breaks, which allows me to carve out more time for reading before bed.
Great, I have time, most of the time, but the thought of reading makes me sick...
Oh man, reading for hours out of any textbook, and then having to hop to another really killed my desire to pick up my book later, even if it was one I’d been looking forward to reading.
This reading slump, unfortunately, is a little harder to overcome.
I suggest two things:
1. Remind yourself why you like to read.
2. Take breaks, and take them often.
I mean it, take a break from the text. You don’t have to read every day, but on the other hand, try not to stay away for too long (that is how you’ll slump). Let yourself not read, but as soon as you get even the slightest inclination to pick up the book you’ve been eyeing, do it! Do it now. That is go time.
So, try to read. Read something that pulls you away from your work. It doesn’t help to spend hours in a philosophy textbook and then pick up a memoir on a philosopher (or something like that). Read something that makes you excited, relaxed, and wonder. Read something fun. And read even if it’s just a word or a sentence before you turn out your light. That is still reading. That is still one more word read when you otherwise might not have picked up your book, and perhaps that's all it will take to lure you into reading just another word... and another... and wow, look at the time! I’ve finished the book!?
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