The everyday overwhelm can sometimes be, well, overwhelming. With deadlines approaching at work, surprise visits to the pediatrician because of another stomach bug, and trying to remember what needs to be added to the shopping list. It can be difficult to set aside five minutes to ourselves, let alone the luxury of a half hour to read. But that doesn’t make it any less important for our wellbeing. Reading is that well-deserved, essential break that we need to take a step back and breathe. And here are five reasons why it’s important to set aside time to read.
Reading is time well spent…
Reading is better than social media because it’s time well spent. At the end of the day, it’s easy to sit down and scroll through Facebook or Instagram. But as soon as we look back at the clock, 30 minutes have gone by! And we don’t feel any better or more fulfilled than we did at the beginning of that half-hour. Instead of checking on the latest update from Facebook, reading for that half-hour feels satisfying, like we just accomplished something.
Reading is an escape…
Reading serves as an escape from the everyday grind. Feeling bogged down by the everyday is normal in motherhood. Run another load of laundry, start the dishwasher, put away the same toys, wash the same bottles, and the list goes on. But reading can be a way of changing up that routine. Life doesn’t have to be the same chores and errands over and over. We can introduce something novel (pun intended) into the same old same old. A little change to the routine never hurts anyone. And besides, we as moms are always acclimating to new environments, right? The next book you pick up can be your escape from a mundane routine and the stresses of motherhood.
Reading contributes to balance…
Reading helps us to achieve a balance between motherhood and self. We’re always looking for more ways to achieve a balance between the different areas in our lives. But it seems like the answer is almost always, “Well, if I just had another hour in the day.” But there is no additional hour. And balance will never be perfect, but we can at least do more of the fun items on our list.
Because it always seems like those are the tasks that are never checked off while the chores and errands receive more attention. Give yourself a break! Take the time to read for 30 minutes and then move on to the next chore. When we take the time to unwind, it leads to a less frazzled state of mind. A calmer mind means a focused mind, one that can get things done. We don’t even realize we don’t need that extra hour when we refocus by giving ourselves a second to sit back.
Reading keeps the mind sharp…
Sometimes we can get a little too comfortable in the same routine. Mindless chores, such as washing dishes and bottles or folding laundry, can start to make us feel like we’re not using our brains as much as we used to before building a home and starting a family. But listening to audiobooks while we complete day-to-day tasks that don’t require much thinking can help keep our minds sharp for when our kids hit toddlerhood and start asking incessant questions.
Reading inspires…
Reading can inspire others to pick up a book, especially our children. Our children are always observing our actions. If we can be a good example of what it means to spend time wisely, then maybe they’ll follow our lead. When I was little, I admired my mother’s ability to tackle a long book head-on. I’m talking over a thousand pages. I always thought, “There’s no way she’ll be able to finish this book! It looks like it’s the same length as the Bible!”
But she always finished it and even made time to read to my brother and me before bed most nights. I know that if my mother’s example of reading often led me to read often also, then it will have a similar effect on my son. If we take the time to enjoy reading for ourselves and instill that love in our children, it will lead to a promising future for the next generation that we’re raising right now.
Commit to Reading
So there it is – five reasons why it’s important to set aside time to read. It’s difficult to take the time to read each day. But finding creative ways to do so can lead to a better outcome for ourselves and our children. Reading is time well-spent, it’s an escape, it helps to achieve balance, it keeps our minds sharp, and it can inspire a love of reading in our children. So take some time to read this week. Even if you have to put it in your planner, you deserve some time to read a good book.
If you enjoyed Five Reasons Why It’s Important to Set Aside Time to Read, be sure to share it! You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. You might also like my article, 7 Tips to Back Into the Habit of Reading. It’s about how you can start reading again by putting some of these tips into practice.
