“Keep reading. It’s one of the most marvellous adventures that anyone can have” - Lloyd Alexander.
“Doorbell rang, it was the delivery guy “ he handed me my parcel, it was a book. Think and grow rich. I was so excited to read this book, so I started reading it as soon as I opened it.
Then my cousin came to see what I ordered, so when she saw the book( as it was a non-fictional one) and me reading it,
she said, “in sabse Kuch Nahi Hota, action lene se Hota hai” meaning all these readings doesn’t matter it’s all about taking action.
And once she was finished saying this, it made me think “Really, I don’t think that is completely true”.
So when they say it’s all about taking action there is no point in reading books about it, Yes, I agree but only for the action part.
Because I feel that books give us the mindset to take actions in the desired direction.
I know, just reading is not enough, we have to apply those things in our day to day life as well. Cultivate those habits within ourselves. but even for doing that we need the right mindset. That reading can help us in.
From what I have experienced after reading whatever I have read till now is that books might not be able to tell you what you want in your life, what your heart wants.
But they definitely help you figure out what you don’t want.
They give you clarity about things you don’t want, they help you to think it through. It’s very important to be able to process your thoughts, to have that clarity in your mind.
Books and all these readings help you to process your thoughts so that you can reach the point where you know what you want, what your heart wants.
Because sometimes someone else’s word can give us the clarity about what we are thinking, what we are feeling which our mind couldn’t give. And we wonder why people find comfort in poems.
As Alberto Manguel says, “Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know”.
And reading is just not about consuming knowledge, it’s a lot more than that.
You can consume knowledge through a video also and in fact, that’s the fastest way but why reading is also important is because they help us in building focus, making us more patient in our life.
Videos and reels have reduced our attention span to a very low point. We need new and crispy things every other minute or even half. My attention span is so low that if something doesn’t interest me for five minutes I left it in the middle. And these habits ultimately lose us in the long run.
Every person has their reason to start reading be it fiction or non-fiction. For me, it was an escape from my daily mundane life.
Being a software engineer, staring at my laptop screen made me feel like I was stuck, I wasn’t moving both physically and mentally.
And not only stuck, but I also felt that I was not evolving besides my work in other aspects of my life. I needed something, something different to take my mind off from this. To put my mind and eyes at ease, at rest for some time.
That was the day when I picked up my first book. Yes, it felt good and when I was done finishing it, it felt like unlocking another achievement xD.
And yes it’s hard to stay focused initially but once you cross that level you are unstoppable.
So when you are going to pick your next or first book?