Finding Time To Read

 Share Our Lives 2025 is a monthly link-up to share aspects of our daily lives with each other. This month we're talking about habits that help us make time for reading. Time for reading? I'm finding it tough, and as you can tell by the late hour when this is posted, I have trouble finding time to keep up with my blogging hobby as well!

If you ever see my Monthly Bookshelf Reviews or mid-month What I'm Reading updates from my "book blog" Just A Second, you might have the impression that I generally bemoan the fact that I don't have nearly as much time as I want for reading. Now, I'm a big girl, and I know very well that we make time for the things that are important to us, so if I want more reading time it's up to me to make it happen. So I guess I need to think about what I could change and if that is really what I want and need to do right now, or if I'm okay with the way I'm using my time for this season of my life. 

So yes, first of all, I do love to read. There was a time when I easily read fifty or sixty books in a year, and sometimes more. But the annual number of books read has been much lower over the past several years, maybe almost ten years. When my youngest was in high school, she obviously could do most of her schoolwork on her own, so I started working part time. I also teamed up with some friends to establish a homeschool tutorial of high school classes, so I was on the board of directors for that and I tutored classes in Writing, Literature, and History during those years. So less time for leisure reading, but I did read the same books I assigned to my students during those years!

When we moved, I thought I'd have more time for reading than I even wanted, and at first I did, because I didn't have much else to do! I got myself a Columbus Metropolitan Library card, and got to it! After awhile I got a part-time job that eventually turned into a full time job, and as I got involved in a chorus and at church, the free time dwindled. 

I still participate in reading challenges, particularly the 52 Book Club, because it motivates me to read, and challenges me to try books and authors that I might not have considered otherwise. I won't come close to finishing 52 books again this year, but my total will be higher than last year, so I consider it a win.

I always take a book or my Kindle with me to work and to anything where I'm likely to be sitting and waiting, like doctor and dentist appointments. My lunch break at work is only a half hour, but I usually spend almost that whole time reading. I also read in bed, which may or may not be a good thing . . . it often contributes to my staying awake much too long, but I get so engrossed in a good book that I lose track of time!

What I'm currently reading: While the City Sleeps by Elizabeth Camden and Monet For Nothing by PJ Fitzsimmons

 

I want to be a person that likes audiobooks, but I can't always keep my attention on the story while doing other things. I have friends that listen to audiobooks while at work or while they do housework and I just can't. I do sometimes listen to an audiobook while I'm commuting, and I've found I can follow it while doing some household tasks that don't require me to think much, like folding laundry. I don't use earbuds though, so that also limits what I can do while listening.

The audiobook I just finished: Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell

Do my reading friends have ideas on how to make audiobook listening more workable? Or suggestions on how to maximize reading time that I may not have thought about? 

This post will be linked up with the Share Our Lives 2025 Link-up hosted by Adrienne, Dara, Jen, Joanne, and Sarah.

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