Have you ever experienced something like reading burnout?
I had been at that phase in life lately where reading feels like a chore.
Reading used to be something I enjoy and while I still love it, I just can’t make myself touch a book. But yesterday, after many months and weeks, I picked up a book.
For the first time it felt refreshing and enjoyable to read again. The book was not a sophisticated one, it was The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli. It was just laying on the floor and I forgot to put it where it belongs after deep cleaning the room. While reading, I was listening to Jazz music and then getting lost in the content of the book.
I miss those moments where time passes by whenever I read. I loved getting lost in books and getting lost in stories. Sometimes, I even feel inspired after reading.
I don’t really know why I felt like I had reading burnout but I can pin point to some problems such as prolonged forced reading during my uni days or even after that, when I read one book/day just because I had nothing else to do. For me, there was this deep dissatisfaction when I choose "reading" as part of what I studied. I didn't know that something that I used to love since I was a kid could be something I hated and even despised.
A few months back, I collected some pdfs of random books in an attempt to fix my reading burnout. As you can guess, some of them are still left unread and untouched. I have a few that I read like books from Japanese authors such as Days at Morisaki Bookshop, it was a fantastic read that got me started exploring Japanese modern literature. But that stopped especially with so many uneventful situations in my life that hindered me from having a quiet peace of time to read. In fact, I opt for more easy entertainment such as watching endless series & movies.
Usually, if I skip a book altogether, I feel like I am at a loss of words. Like suddenly my vocabulary is decreasing and I don’t feel like arguing more or even choosing simpler and shorter words than if I were reading books and exposing myself to it. Lately, even writing feels like a chore where normally I can churn out countless words but because I don’t read that much anymore, even 500 words feels like I have to move a mountain.
Reading has so many benefits and personally for me, reading was life changing. But I find it so particularly odd that something which brought me joy became something that brought me unhappiness too. Maybe that’s what life is all about and well, I have tried fixing my relationship with book and I came to this point in life where now, I’d be okay if I am missing out on some nobel worthy prize literature or if it is taking me a few months before I can read in between the lines of some novels. It took me a while to disassociate myself with the idea that everything has to be analyzed, just like what I was taught at my trade. From the hive book community, I learned that some people read to enjoy, to be entertained, and a means of escape, not always something to analyze and something that has to be tied to some psychology or sociology theory.
Maybe this space is more like that, to actually review something without a deep analysation. Perhaps, people just like to read if the book is worth reading, not some babbling on how the novel can be classified into marxist literature or such. Perhaps, I’ll have a reading burnout moment one day in the future, but as of now, I am back, I am back being literate again.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
I felt it so strongly the past months. Reading liberates me in a way I can't imagine. But then I'd see a book and there's this instant revulsion when I think of reading it. It took a while and I'm still working my way around it, but I hope it gets better. For all of us.
I hope it gets better to you too & I can't wait to read your reviews.
I have some books I've been reading recently. Can't wait to give a review of them. Thanks Macch.🥰
Reading Burnuot...
Currently what I'm going through 😭😭😭😭
Hope it gets better for you😊and we you read something, don't forget to share it with us too!
Welcome back to the amazing realm of reading. I believe that by reading a few pages each day, you can easily catch up. Life often limits our time, unfortunately, and time is a scarce commodity.
It's unfortunate that many fail to recognize the numerous benefits of reading. As you rightly point out, there are countless reasons to delve into a book and lose ourselves in its pages.
Best regards!
So true! even when I scheduled my time, I have those moments where it's almost impossible to read. I am so sorry for getting back so late here, trying to catch up with everything. have a great day!
No worries. It happens to all of us. Have a great week ahead.
It's always interesting to read you Mac, I understand what you mean, I have what I call "hobby cycles", I have periods where I only watch movies for months, others where I only read books, others where I only study medical stuff, others where I only draw, others where I only listen to music, they are my way to distract myself, but when I get into them it is in such a deep way that I get tired after a while, so I constantly reset myself to start a new cycle.
I must be about 6 months since I read a book, about 3 months since I watched a movie or series, right now I'm with a little music and a lot of medical update studies (completely bored) I really hope to get back to my movie and book cycles soon, I'm glad that you are enjoying reading again, you see how little by little things for you are getting back to normal life my dear Mac.
I hug you very much, it is always a pleasure to read you. 🫂💕
That sounds like me! I go through cycles and these days I watch less movies but listen to music and read books. I think, it's nice to switch every now and then to give our brain a break & introduce familiarity. I hope you can get back into reading and if you do, don't forget to share it here.
I feel you! Reading a book feels tedious lately. I haven't posted a book review here yet because I can't help but analyze and point things out like I do as a Literature teacher when discussing a book 😅
Happy you're back! I'm in a reading slump right now, hoping to be back soon,too!
😃 It happens! I think it's because it's what we're used to do so, whenever we read something we over analyze it. I hope you can get over your reading slump cause it's pretty suck when you can't seemingly enjoy reading anymore.
I only experience reading burnout when I am unwell. In fact it is an early warning sign for me! I have just found this blog and hope to contribute. Re Japanese literature I have just had a reading jag of the books of Hiroki Murakami (so). He is my latest find. I have been reading now for over 60 years and every day I get to learn new things. Thanks for your article.
Murakami works are one of the best and he's well-known internationally. I think Murakami has its own style and recent writers tried copying his style and narration. By the way, if you have any awesome book to share, feel free to subscribe to the community and share your review with us.
Readings can gain us lots of ideas specially if the books are very interesting to read. It can sharpening our memory because the more we read in silence our mind can exercise just like getting more ideas. This article you made is very informative, I really appreciated this.
The more we read, the more we enrich our vocabulary too. To this day, I attribute my knowledge of it because the books I loved reading as a kid. By the way, if you have something to share with us about book reviews/library visit or similar, feel free writing it out in the community.
Exactly, I also love to read kids book, the book that I also always read. That is also my plan, to share the book I read in community, thank you for suggesting me that. ☺️