February Goals – Reading
It is almost
midway through January and I have been thinking a lot about the goals that I
made for myself only two weeks ago regarding my reading and my plans for the New
Year. Now that 2015 is well into spring I feel content to say that I am
enjoying the ‘guidelines’ that I set out for myself when it comes to challenges
and my collection of books chosen to read each month. The aspects that are
working so far for me are: reading two books a week, participating in the Pop
Sugar challenge, and adding non-fiction books into my weekly reading.
Flexibility
is important for me, alongside that adaptability, and when something isn’t working
I want to be able to look at it logically as well as laterally and assess where
changes need to me made, and how I can have the best reading journey that I can
create for myself. Which in truth is personal, and up to me to decide, to
mould, to craft and to explore.
Two new
things I realized today are that for me choosing books does work, even though I
was curious to see if it would. The two things I realized is this:
I have more Fiction books than Non-Fiction books
I have on
average about 30 Non-Fiction books Vs over 200 Fiction books on my shelf. By
changing my goal at reading a Non-Fiction book every week, to two a month I
will be able to enjoy the more in depth Non-Fiction books I enjoy [The Secret,
The Best Year of Your Life] and read more broadly with my Fiction shelves.
Some Books will take longer to read
I tend to
get anxious by making deadlines. You would wonder why then I made having two
books read a week a goal. For me this is one of my lessons, and this is why I
love reading and creating goals. You never know what you’re capable of until
you take the plunge.
This thought
is a simple one, though admittedly it only sank in last night when I was
reading Wuthering Heights and berating myself on my slow reading. It
took me a smack in the head [not literally] to realize that while I can read a
600 page book in a week, It wouldn’t be my preference to do so every week, and
like any vocation there are challenges when coming across new authors, or genres
and topics that push our buttons and those books are the ones that we need to
be flexible with.
What it
comes down to is really fear of failure. I am sure we all feel it as some
stage, even when reading is a passion. To couple this thought I realized that
whatever pressure I feel is self-inflicted and there is strength in being able
to be open to change.
I like to
let the past be the past, and always grow even with reading, that is one of the
stronger drives for me to read, to learn and to grow as well as for enjoyment
and community. I have been learning that I am still hard on myself when it
comes to creating goals and sticking with them. I am a focused person, and can contradict
myself with my impulsive patterns.
This is my
confession, my amendment to the plans I have made, and the open door to bookish
bliss. My themed picks and challenges will be running for the present, but
those two changes will be put into place mentally immediately and actively come
February.
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