Print or e-book, from the library or bookstore, just read a book!
Reading for fun is awesome. While American adults are reading more literature than they have in the past twenty-five years (1), 80% of U.S. families did not buy a book this year and 70% percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the past 5 years (2). Many people claim that they simply don’t have the time.
Start Small
This is true for almost all of the exercises on DailyHap.com—if you had time you’d be doing them already. Our invitation for you is to try on the tiny little version of some happiness strategy, new or old, like a sample at the grocery store. If you enjoy it and you know that it’s actually good for your mental health you may be convinced to add it to your routine. Or, like a good book, you may enjoy it thoroughly one time, pass it on to a friend, always maintain positive memories of it, but never visit it again.
So treat reading like a good book. Open it up and let yourself get lost, if even just for tonight.
You don’t have to read the whole thing at once. Savor it. You can read a chapter before you sleep, while waiting in line, or while on the pot. You can download an audiobook and play it in the car, making traffic fun. You can trade out a TV show for a couple chapters. For this exercise, just make sure to forget the most recent time management or self-help tome and opt for something purely pleasurable. (3)
Let Yourself Be a Kid Again
Try your favorite genre even if it seems juvenile or silly—romance, science fiction, post-apocalyptic. Try something popular that everyone is talking about, or try something old. Try mixing it up. Try reading on your Kindle or iPad, or if you’ve been reading online, go to the library and check something out.
One Benefit Rises Above the Rest
In a world packed with to-do lists, action packed movies, status updates and texting at stoplights it’s easy to forget that the benefits of reading are overwhelming—psychologically, socially, and even physically. Reading fiction is great for creativity, empathy building, entertainment, and education. Reading reduces stress, improves memory and problem solving skills, and generally improves your communication, orally and written.
Yet what’s even easier to forget is that reading is plain old fun. And that’s kind of the point of happiness, isn’t it?
(1) “For the first time in more than 25 years, American adults are reading more literature, according to a 2009 study by the National Endowment for the Arts. See nea.gov/news/news09/ReadingonRise.html
(2) statisticbrain.com/reading-statistics Note that, like usual, there’s good news as well
(3) According to a 2005 University of Toronto study, reading fiction is linked to social skills like empathy and awareness, but non-fiction isn’t. See individual.utoronto.ca/jacobhirsh/publications/Mar_Oatley_Hirsh_delaPaz_Peterson.pdf
Image: Some rights reserved by moriza