top ten tuesday: things getting in the way of reading.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week’s topic is Things Getting in the Way of Reading. This topic really resonated with me because although I love reading, sometimes life happens and I get busy and I find I’ve gone days without picking up a book.

Here are my Things Getting in the Way of Reading:

1. Work. There are times when my job can be incredibly busy and when this happens I find myself working more hours and always thinking about work which really cuts into my reading time. Sometimes, by the time I get home from work, eat, and do all the other things I do in the evening, it’s time to go to sleep.

2. Finding the right medium to read. I’ve discussed this before, but as I get older my eyesight has changed to the point where it’s difficult to read a paperback or hardback book in the evenings when it’s dark out. I have to have all the lights on in my apartment if I want to read at night. Therefore, because it’s backlit, I usually read on my Kindle before I go to sleep but this requires me to have a book downloaded. I don’t always have something on my Kindle that I want to read and when this happens, I usually skip my nighttime reading.

3. Knitting. I love doing crafts and I’ve been trying, especially this year, to prioritize my knitting and crocheting. Unfortunately, I am not talented enough to be able to read while I knit so it usually comes down to a choice between knitting or reading.

4. Watching YouTube. There are so many interesting shows and creators on YouTube that I find myself sitting down to watch one episode of something and then I keep watching. As with knitting, I can’t really read and watch tv at the same time, unless I’m watching something I’ve seen already.

5. Work. See above.

6. The new game I downloaded on my phone. Yes, I got sucked into the June’s Journey game. I love a hidden objects game and I like the cute little storyline that goes along with the game. The only good thing is that I can only play for so long before I run out of energy and I have to wait for it to reload.

7. I am not into the book I’m reading. Sometimes I’m just not into the book that I’m currently reading which makes it difficult to pick up and read. I know that when this happens I should just DNF the book but I find it challenging to do so.

8. Going for walks. Now that summer is almost here, the sun is starting to set later and later which means I have more time to go on walks in the evenings. I love going on walks and getting outside, especially on days when I work from home.

9. Browsing my phone or social media. I’ve definitely fallen down the social media hole and found myself scrolling and scrolling with no end in sight. It’s so easy to waste time! Most of the time I put down my phone and think “I could have been reading…”

10. Work. I mean, I have to work to make money to buy more books.