For context: I have ADHD (only diagnosed about two years ago because most of my family believes mental illnesses are a big pharma conspiracy), and today, after a long, quiet war against my brain, I finally achieved something I haven’t been able to do since I was in elementary school: I read every day for a year.
Here’s a few things I learned along the way that might help someone else:
- If you haven’t already, step one is dealing with your internalized ableism. Take it from someone who used to think e-readers were a crime against literature and audiobooks weren’t the same as reading “because reasons.”
- Yes, fanfiction counts as “real reading.” No, it’s not less valid than classic lit.
- Oh, you love classic lit? Yeah, me too. I also love fanfiction. We can have both!
- It’s totally fine to read several books at once. Bookmarks are your best friend.
- Audiobooks are the secret to reading on your busiest days. Multitask, fam. If you’re stuck in traffic after work, going to the gym, or even just washing the dishes, that’s reading time! Get some headphones and listen to an audiobook.
- Need to engage with something to stay attentive? Fanfiction! You can split your screen so that you’re reading on the left and jotting down comments on the right. Dump your lovely comments in the author’s inbox and make their day.
- Too tired to read with your eyes? Audiobooks. You can put one on between two alarms in the morning. Same kinda deal if you’re physically tired at night, but your mind is racing. Turn the lights off and try listening to an audiobook.
- Too energized to read? Audiobooks. Go for a walk or a run, get out your yoga mat, hop on a treadmill, bounce your leggie, whatever you do to burn energy.
- You don’t have to finish something just because you started reading it. Read things that actually make you happy. Read things that make you want to read.
- Skimming is actually a really important skill and if that’s all you can manage, that’s okay! While my goal has been to deep read every day this past year, I can tell you right now that what got me through school was skimming and speed-reading. That’s low-key the secret to having a life in university, just saying.
- Novels aren’t the only damn thing that count as reading! Short stories count. Newspaper articles count. Encyclopedias count. Does it have words? It counts. Graphic novel or comic book? It counts! Children’s book? Yup, that counts, too.
- Nothing wrong with setting small reading goals. You can go by page or word count, time spent reading, number of chapters, etc. Whatever the case may be, I’d recommend keeping the bar low just because it’ll be easier to keep up your habit on the days when time is short or something unexpected came up.
- You can read your favourite books over and over and over and over again.
- And finally, as ironic as it sounds in the context of this post: you don’t have to read every day. I set that goal for myself because it makes me happy and I wanted to prove to myself that I could. You just wanna read on Sundays? Great! You should do it. Whatever it takes to fall in love with reading again. ♥
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