In a post earlier this week I told you that I read 84 books last year. This may seem to some like an impossible feat; some of you might be thinking I should be able to read more. Either way, I feel like I do a decent job reading a good number of books each year, but I am always striving to read more. Now that I’ve written about How I Pick My Books and How I Organize My Reading, I want to talk a little bit about how I make time for reading. To discuss this there are two answers. The first way I make time for my reading is by prioritizing it. Reading is something that means a lot to me, so I make sure that I have time for it. If I didn’t read books I think I would get too stressed out. Reading gives me my introvert time, which I definitely need after teaching for a full day. The second way to answer this question is much more specific. To give you an idea, let me briefly outline my day. 5:00am-I wake up. Yes, this is early, but I’m more of a morning person anyway. Also, both of my girls have always been early risers. My husband and I usually do some sort of getting ready shuffle depending on which of our kids is up and who needs to do what to get ready for the day. If there is any downtime here I try to read—sometimes this doesn’t happen, and sometimes I can get an hour of reading in. 7:15am-I leave for work. I drive for thirty minutes to get to my school, and I listen to podcasts during this time. I love book podcasts, parenting podcasts, and I am especially loving the podcast Best of Both Worlds which focuses on moms who are passionate about their families and their jobs and how they make those two passions work together. 7:45-I usually arrive at work and get to it. Grading, planning, and other teacher things usually fill my planning period. Occasionally I get some time to read a book I want to share with my students. This is maybe fifteen minutes a day at most. 4:30pm(most days)-I get home from school, go pick up my daughters, and come home to begin the dinner time shuffle with my family. 5:00pm-We eat dinner and try to accomplish as many chores like laundry as possible before bedtime starts. 6:30pm-My youngest starts bedtime off and then we quickly get my oldest started on her bedtime bath and story time. If it is my husband’s night to do bedtime, I read my own books while he reads to her. 8:00pm-Both girls are in bed. We do any last minute chores and spend some quality time watching a television show, reading, playing video games, etc. 10:00pm-I try to go to sleep. This schedule means that I get to read somewhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours a day. That might sound like a lot of time, but I think that is because I have to make time for it—reading is one of my main methods of relaxing. I hope by sharing my schedule you can see how I make it work to fit reading in. I also try to trade times on the weekend so that my husband and I each get one hour on Saturday to do something just for us like reading. I know I’m not the busiest person out there, I know when the girls’s schedules get more complicated my life will, too, but this is what works for me right now. Other methods that work include listening to audiobooks and reading ebooks whenever possible. I try to carry a physical book with me everywhere I go, too, to make sure no time is wasted. There are so many ways you can find to make reading work for you; if you make it a priority and are willing to compromise and go for the real instead of the ideal, you can find yourself quite pleased with your reading life. No matter how many books you are able to make time for, reading is a habit that benefits you greatly in the long run. As an English teacher, I see how much more engaged my students are when they have found a book or author they love. I think the same thing applies to adults. Read something that interests you, and it will help you to have a better life. If you have any strategies I didn’t mention above, please leave them in the comments. Also, make sure you check out my posts on How I Pick My Books and How I Organize My Reading to read more about my reading life. Here’s to finding a good book!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |