Entry #4: Learning How to Read

I didn't read a single book growing up, from kindergarten to my senior year of high school, and up until I was about 20, I wore this fact like a badge of honor. I never took the time to get good at reading early on, so it's no wonder I thought of myself as someone who "isn't a book reader" any time a conversation came up about it. Of the short list of regrets I have, not getting into reading sooner is on that list. 

During the time when I started to read physical books, I would read books I knew would hold my attention, like the Harry Potter series and certain historical fiction novels, leaving the more complex topics for audiobooks because it was the best way I could digest the information since I was so unpracticed when it came to sitting down and doing nothing but read a book word by word. This was a great place to start because I decreased the likelihood of getting discouraged, creating a library of cool-looking, unread books.

It is common when you are first starting to get into reading to look up all these fantastic books by great authors with gripping, high-level storytelling. You think, "I can read, so I'll start with Thourou or Jung because I always hear these names, and I might as well start with the greats, right?" Then the book comes in the mail, crack it open excitedly because "I'm a fancy book reader now," and immediately realize not even two paragraphs in that you have no clue what the author is saying. You push through because "it's just getting going, and it'll clear up in a few pages, right?" 

The biggest lesson I have learned from reading is that you should choose books to read that you can actually read. Otherwise, you are just spending hours sitting in a chair, killin' it at looking like a person reading a book. 

It's been 7 years since I got into reading, and only in the last year and a half have I reached a point where I can pick up most anything and comprehend it with minimal backtracking. 

Since incorporating reading into my daily routine, my reading has improved, and my ability to form clear and concise sentences has increased when speaking. I'm also rarely confused in conversation because I always receive and retain information from varying authors with random points of view on an infinite amount of topics. 

A great way to end this would be with a cliche comment like "Reading will change your life" or "The most successful people in history read, so if you want to be, you should too." I recommend starting with whatever genre of movie or TV shows you like.