I’ve had a few questions like that from my January reading recap, so I wanted to flush out a few things.

Probably the main thing is that I had the whole first week of January off from work, AND I had COVID – so, you know, lots of free time. I had three days in bed where I could read to my hearts desire, which is not common with three little kids. So that kickstarted my reading for the month at a pretty high speed. I’m not sure the upcoming months will be as bountiful.

Also – with Jonny turning three this past November, we’re really entering unchartered territory in our family where all the kids are starting to be a little more independent and not needing us as much. This has been the stage where we’ve been pregnant or had a baby and started all over again, so it’s the first time we’re not starting over again when the older child reaches this stage. It’s allowing a little time for me to explore what I want to do with my free time. And reading is usually my go-to.

I’ve also mentioned this before, but I’ve made a conscious effort to turn social media scrolling time into reading time. I’ve been posting more on my Instagram account lately (trying out that influencer role to see if I can become rich overnight and buy that cabin in the mountains…it’s slow progress so far), so I can’t say I’ve been super great about this part, but I do still occasionally turn to my Kindle app to read instead of scrolling through Facebook.

I’m on this Facebook group called Friends and Fiction which I love to follow for book recommendations. And I’ve added A LOT of books to my To Be Read list from this group. But at the end/beginning of every month, a lot of people post the books they’ve read for the month, and mostly they’re the high achievers of the group: lots of retired folks who have a lot of free time to read. And I think that’s GREAT, but it’s hard for everyone else not to feel like they’re not reading enough.

My point is: I don’t want my posts to make others feel that way. I share because I like writing on my blog and this is a topic that I can write about easily, I like spreading the word about books I like and those I didn’t, and I like to refer back to my posts for books I’ve read. Two years ago, I read maybe a book a month, and that made me REALLY happy and accomplished. I’m stoked to be able to get through more books now, but everyone is on their own reading journey. Read to your heart’s content and according to the stage in your life!

Where are you on your reading journey? Do you wish you had more time to read? Are you thankful for the time you have now to read?