The other day, I took a look at my Goodreads Reading Challenge and I noticed that I’m eight books away from hitting 100 books this year. Wow.
I’m honestly surprised and happy for myself. I started off the year with a goal of 50. When I hit that goal, I bumped it up to 75. When I got that, I thought “eh, why not go for it,” and increased it one more time to 100.
I’ve never read 100 books in a year. I think it honestly took me three years to read 100 books. And with working from home part-time, I’ve had a lot of free time to read more books.
But now I’m down to the wire. I’m eight books away from the end and I’ve got a real truth bomb for you; I’m not going to read 100 books this year.
Now that we’re down to the end of the year, I’m feeling more lazy. It’s because it’s the holiday season and unlike most shopping outlets, I’m not in a mad rush to finish the year with as many books as I can. I like to end my year with a fizzle and enjoy my time with my family and friends.
If I started my year with the challenge of reading 100 books, then I would have approached it more strategically. I would have figured out the math on how many books I had to read in a month, every month, to actually make it to 100 without burning out. I would have planned my books better as well. But this year felt like a year of experiments and reading 100 books was one of them.
But I didn’t start my year off like that and I honestly don’t feel like cramming eight books into the last 15 days of the year. I think I want to spend my time with my friends and playing games and enjoying the holiday season than be cramped in my room reading because I felt obligated to finish 100 books.
And that’s the rub. Sometimes we set these goals for ourselves and we suddenly think that it’s a top secret mission. We have to read these books. We must. But the truth is that we don’t have to. It’s the reason why so many people leave their Goodreads Reading Challenge to one book in the year. They don’t want to be forcing books into their reading when they don’t want to.
So maybe next year I’ll read 100 books. I’ll plan it out so that I can finish evenly, feel less stress, and enjoy my reading life.
Simone and Her Books 
I love this post so much. I enjoy setting a GR goal but now I try to keep it manageable because I know I’ll burn out. I don’t want reading to feel like a chore, and I want to pursue my other interests without feeling like I “should” be reading.
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Exactly! Giving yourself a break from reading ensures you’ll continue to read. If it’s a chore, then it’s not fun and we all want to have fun
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Absolutely! You have to give yourself credit for the year of reading you’ve done. Making reading more into a chore is a recipe for burn out.
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You read a bunch of books this year regardless. I totally understand the want to spend this time of year with family and friends. That is why I always make my goal 50 because I know I will read at least a book a week. I don’t want to be stressed about reading, it is meant to be enjoyed.
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