Monday, January 12, 2015

BOOKISH CONFESSIONS # 1 - February Goals

0


February Goals – Reading

It is almost midway through January and I have been thinking a lot about the goals that I made for myself only two weeks ago regarding my reading and my plans for the New Year. Now that 2015 is well into spring I feel content to say that I am enjoying the ‘guidelines’ that I set out for myself when it comes to challenges and my collection of books chosen to read each month. The aspects that are working so far for me are: reading two books a week, participating in the Pop Sugar challenge, and adding non-fiction books into my weekly reading.

Flexibility is important for me, alongside that adaptability, and when something isn’t working I want to be able to look at it logically as well as laterally and assess where changes need to me made, and how I can have the best reading journey that I can create for myself. Which in truth is personal, and up to me to decide, to mould, to craft and to explore.

Two new things I realized today are that for me choosing books does work, even though I was curious to see if it would. The two things I realized is this:

I have more Fiction books than Non-Fiction books


I have on average about 30 Non-Fiction books Vs over 200 Fiction books on my shelf. By changing my goal at reading a Non-Fiction book every week, to two a month I will be able to enjoy the more in depth Non-Fiction books I enjoy [The Secret, The Best Year of Your Life] and read more broadly with my Fiction shelves.

Some Books will take longer to read


I tend to get anxious by making deadlines. You would wonder why then I made having two books read a week a goal. For me this is one of my lessons, and this is why I love reading and creating goals. You never know what you’re capable of until you take the plunge.

This thought is a simple one, though admittedly it only sank in last night when I was reading Wuthering Heights and berating myself on my slow reading. It took me a smack in the head [not literally] to realize that while I can read a 600 page book in a week, It wouldn’t be my preference to do so every week, and like any vocation there are challenges when coming across new authors, or genres and topics that push our buttons and those books are the ones that we need to be flexible with.

What it comes down to is really fear of failure. I am sure we all feel it as some stage, even when reading is a passion. To couple this thought I realized that whatever pressure I feel is self-inflicted and there is strength in being able to be open to change.


I like to let the past be the past, and always grow even with reading, that is one of the stronger drives for me to read, to learn and to grow as well as for enjoyment and community. I have been learning that I am still hard on myself when it comes to creating goals and sticking with them. I am a focused person, and can contradict myself with my impulsive patterns.

This is my confession, my amendment to the plans I have made, and the open door to bookish bliss. My themed picks and challenges will be running for the present, but those two changes will be put into place mentally immediately and actively come February.

What about you?

How have your January goals been going?

0 comments:

Post a Comment