In the Mood to Read

Have you ever had those moments when you’re reading a book and you wonder to yourself why you’re reading that book?

Let me give you a scenario:

You’ve been interested in a book. It’s been on your TBR for a while and finally, you pick it up. You start reading it, but something triggers in you that makes you realize you don’t want to read this book right now. Is it the book? Is it you? Who knows! Something about it makes you want to put it down and pick up something else instead.

9/10 times, for me, it’s usually my anxiety. I have pretty negative thoughts in my head that tend to also perpetuate even further with the book I’m reading. This is why I haven’t read anything by Ransom Riggs because I don’t need photos of creepy kids giving me anxiety attacks every other page.

But for others, it could be a myriad of reasons. Maybe it’s Autumn and you decided to reread Harry Potter. Maybe it’s just a boring story (feasible scenario). Or maybe it’s because you’re just not in the mood for it.

It took me a really long time to understand that what I’m feeling is a lack of interest in reading, I’m just not in the mood. Reading books is like trying to figure out what you want to eat for dinner. If there aren’t any obvious choices, you’re going to go for the cheapest, most convenient thing in front of you. Halfway through the meal, you realize that this isn’t what you wanted in the first place and then the meal is in the trash or put in the back of your fridge.

If you haven’t done that with your books, then your fridge must look pretty barren.

I hate leaving a book in the middle of the story, but sometimes when you’re not in the mood to read that particular story and that’s OK. I think the key point to understand here is that reading is subjective. Either you want to do it or you don’t. If you don’t want to do it, there’s no mark against you. Yeah, you’ll get put back a little bit on your reading challenge, but it’s not the end of the world. Unless it is the end of the world and even then there are bigger things to worry about than not being able to finish Anna Karenina.

So, in summation, be kind to yourself. Read what you want to read when you want to read it. And if you’re just not in the mood, then put down the book. There’s no one watching. Go ahead. Put it down.