Competing Against Myself

If you are recently new to my blog, WELCOME! You might not know what my other readers know about me yet, but I am an avid – dare I say possibly voracious – reader. I spend several hours almost every day reading, and next to my kitchen, comfortable in my recliner with either a book or my Kindle (mostly my Kindle) is another happy place for me. I tend to stick to the genre of mystery/thriller, with psychological thrillers being my favorite in that family.

A few years ago, after recognizing how much time I spend reading, I became curious about how many books I read in a year. So I started counting with the first book I finished in January and stopped counting with the last book I finished in December. I didn’t count any books that I’d started and for some reason chose not to finish. I tend not to read a book more than once, so I’m not sure if such a book would/should have been counted in the total.

The first year I read 83 books, equaling an average of just less than 7 books a month. The next year I decided to make a goal of reading 100 books a year. 2024 marked the 6th year I was keeping track. I met every goal, and so I kept raising the goal total. In 2023, I read a total of 163 books, an average of 13-1/2 books a month. Even though I had to push myself towards the end, I exceeded my goal of 160 with three extra books.

When setting the goal for 2024, I knew I was going to need to be focused on reading because I’d have to average finishing a book every 2 days. That doesn’t seem daunting, until I broke it down to understanding that I’d need to read a half-a-book daily.

I was moving along swimmingly (thanks, Kristian, for recently giving me that word LOL), reading between 13 and 17 books a month. And then I hit a wall in October. I struggled through spending time starting books that I decided I didn’t want to be spending time on. With a TBR (to-be-read) list that currently stands at 541, I knew I wasn’t in danger of running out of books, so it was easy to make the decision to put away a book that wasn’t grabbing me into the story within 100 pages. It wasn’t long into October that I realized that my slump in reading was going to mean that I’d really have to step it up in November and December. Suddenly, I realized that, in order to make my goal, I’d be stressing myself to keep reading even if I wasn’t in the mood. I remembered how that felt at the end of 2023 and I just didn’t want a repeat where something that brings me joy should become a chore. So I announced on my social media that I was choosing to fail at my goal. In response Marnette (my one and only true Princess) asked why I was setting up a competition with myself. Honestly, I’d never looked at it in that regard!!!

Three things happened then. First, I forgave myself for setting myself up to succeed or fail in something that was not, dare I say, smart. Second, I forgave myself for not achieving said set goal. Third, I decided that the only goal I will set for reading is to attempt to read, with enjoyment, more than 100 books in a year. I can feel that being able to say I read more than 100 books a year makes me feel accomplished.

Will I still count the number of books I read? Probably. I’ll always be curious about that number. But no more detailed accounting by the month to make sure I’m on track for a goal. After all, studies show that reading reduces stress, increases intelligence, improves memory and expands knowledge and understanding. And it’s a great and inexpensive place to get lost in for a while!

I continue to feel lighter when I think about releasing this year’s goal and the decision to not set future goals for this activity.

P.S. Just so you know, I read 164 books towards my goal to 170. And 163 books was my total for 2023, so I attest that I am still a voracious reader and beat last year’s number of books read!