On the advice of my therapist, I started reading again for the first time in years and it's REALLY helped. It lights up your brain and rewards you for seeing things through. That being said, it is a *skill* that needs to be relearned and nurtured, so be patient with yourself!
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if you're like me and got away from reading for a few years but are trying to get back into it, here are some things that have helped me in the last 6 ish months:
1) deleting some social media accounts / spending less time on them
2) replace my doom scrolling with reading either on my phone or with an e-reader (the more basic the better imo) (my kobo is on its way to me as we speak)
3) starting with shorter things like novellas and working my way back up to longer things (also if I feel overwhelmed by my lack of progress on something longer I read a short story)
4) remembering that reading is a skill and it will take time to get really good at it again like when I was younger and that's okay !
happy reading everyone!
Jan 13, 2025
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In an effort to decentralize social media in my life, I started reading again… and I didn’t realize what a joy it could be! I couldn’t tell you the last time I read a book of my own accord, but I started with The Bell Jar, and now I’m on Just Kids. They are perfect ways to ease myself into more patience, quietness, and satisfaction. :)
Feb 10, 2025
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I think a lot of us want to be able to read longer material, but our attention spans are fried for various reasons. For me, it was the fatal combo of doing a reading-intensive college degree that ate away at my time + social media brainrot + a high level of anxiety that makes me feel generally restless and unfocused. I used to be a huge reader, so I've tried jumping right back into reading long novels multiple times. This hasn't seemed to work in any lasting way. I've had more luck recently with starting small.
Even if you set your goal as: "I want to read something longer than tweets or social media posts," it's progress! Zines, articles, Substack posts, anything just a little bit longer that your brain can latch deeper into will help rebuild your attention. Short story collections and novellas have also been helpful for me, especially if you pick a topic or genre that you're really interested in. I'm still on some forms of social media, so I haven't gone cold-turkey. But I do feel like incorporating longer-form material again, even mixed in with scrolling, has helped my brain so much already. It's refreshing to hand-select what I want to read and give my attention to, instead of letting an algorithm serve me topics. I didn't realize how much depth I was missing in exchange for the breadth of the internet!
Jan 19, 2025
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its overwhelmingly likely that most people have a neutral view of you, if anything!
Jan 11, 2025
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The free time and mental clarity is scary, but I'm so excited for what comes next.
Oct 16, 2024
