My New Relationship with Reading // My Reading Struggles

Hey guys, this is going to a super long post so I hope you’re ready. I have been trying to find my place with reading lately. I have been in about 3 book slumps recently and it really made me think about what’s changed. 

I have been blogging for almost a year to date. It has been fun, stressful, and I loved every minute of it. I’ve really been through so many things that helped me find out what kind of reader I was. Also, what’s important to me and where I see myself going with reading in the future.

The number one thing that is important to me is that reading is what I do to relax and escape the stress of life. It shouldn’t feel like an obligation that I have to do.

This has been my biggest struggle since I started my book blog. When you first start out, you want to read as much as you can so you can have always have content available. That’s understandable. It’s when you start to find yourself in the process of making yourself read. This is the worst thing that can happen to a book reader in my opinion.

Reading should be fun! It should make you happy every time you open a book. Not stressed because you need to finish it by a certain date and time.

I don’t think I’m cut out for buddy reading. Either I read too much or I read less than the days reading. Both make me feel like shit when I’m supposed to be reading with another person. I’d so much rather we read it on our own time and then fangirl about it after we have read the book. There’s less stress and I don’t feel guilty. That’s a win-win!

This next one is something that I have never wanted to say, but since I’m pouring out all my bookish thoughts, why not?! I’d rather stay away from sensitive topics.

I don’t read to better myself. I honestly just love losing myself in the pages. If you haven’t noticed, I hardly ever read books that are about sensitive topics. Most of the time I read contemporaries. Either adult or YA contemporizes, but all are on the more light side. Want to know why? Happy endings! I honestly just want to get away from the stress of life so I really don’t want to read something that’s super emotional or about hard topics.

Speaking of stress, there are three main reasons for me being stressed about reading lately. ARCS, deadlines, and running out of content.

I feel like ARCS and deadlines go hand in hand. Now before I get some hate comments; Yes, I know how privileged I am as a US blogger to have an opportunity to receive ARCS (physical or eGalley). I get that. What I didn’t anticipate, was the stress that came along with it. While I still request some, I have completely taken a step back from requesting all the time. You don’t have to stay on top of new releases to be a good book blogger. I have honestly fallen back in love with reading lately by reading backlisted titles. With all of the reading slumps I’ve been in lately, running out of content is scary to me. I am so type A that I have to have at least 5 posts scheduled at a time. If I don’t, then I start to freak out. I’m scared of having nothing to post.

I want to say that I’ll just brush this off and won’t let it phase me. Gosh, I wish it was that easy! but knowing what’s wrong is the first step right? Well, I’m just going to take it day by day instead of always needing to have a plan. Read what I want, when I want, and see how it goes. 

So there’s my super personal reading update. If you made it this far honestly I’ll be shocked. As I’m typing this, I’m honestly feeling a little better. Sometimes putting your thoughts into words is really all you need. There wasn’t an endgame for this post. Just putting all my thoughts out there just in case someone was feeling the same. 

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