Wherein I discuss the challenges of finding/making time to read as an adult after a childhood and adolescence full of books.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I spend time reading, and what sort of changes I could enact to make reading more of a priority. I find it relaxing and invigorating—it’s a huge part of who I am—but… I don’t often make time for it.
— Aidan Moher ???? READ YOUNGBLOOD RAWR (@adribbleofink) September 4, 2018
This got me thinking, and I realized *why* I don’t make time for it in the same way I make time for videogames, writing, other hobbies, etc: I didn’t always *have* to make time for it.
— Aidan Moher ???? READ YOUNGBLOOD RAWR (@adribbleofink) September 4, 2018
I grew up on a small island off the coast of a larger island. This meant I spent a lot of time travelling. By the time I was in grade 8 (12 years old) I was taking a 20 minute ferry ride + a bus ride to get to school. This meant I had a lot of empty time.
— Aidan Moher ???? READ YOUNGBLOOD RAWR (@adribbleofink) September 4, 2018
This was also the point at which I was discovering long, adult, epic fantasy novels. So, to fill the time, I read. A lot. There was no need to *make* time to read, because I was handed loads of it.
— Aidan Moher ???? READ YOUNGBLOOD RAWR (@adribbleofink) September 4, 2018
Twenty years later, I have a lot of added responsibilities—I’m a parent, a homeowner, employed full-time and write part-time—but because, as I became a voracious reader I never had to *make* time for it, I never learned how to as an adult.
— Aidan Moher ???? READ YOUNGBLOOD RAWR (@adribbleofink) September 4, 2018
So, my reading has slowed down because I only allow it during those brief, quiet, empty moments of the day when I have nothing else pulling at me. I want to figure out how to change that.
— Aidan Moher ???? READ YOUNGBLOOD RAWR (@adribbleofink) September 4, 2018