Does Anyone REALLY Hate Reading?
When it comes to the habit of reading, there are many different kinds of people.
There are people who:
There may be more types, but hopefully you can relate to one of these 6.
At the bottom option, we find people who BELIEVE that they don’t like to read.
Second to last, are people who are being a bit lazy and think that listening to an audiobook is exactly the same as reading it (which is debatable).
The third to last type doesn’t like to read either but they try their best to go against it. This means they at least understand the value of reading.
Ironically, since you’re probably reading this, perhaps you can’t relate to these 3 types at the bottom of the list.
But I decided to write this article anyway in case you want to send this over to someone you care about.
That’s also why I’ll keep it short. (If you do send it to someone who doesn’t like to read, you can tell them it’s short. Also, if they want, they can just read this on Medium, where it has the option to use software to read the article for you)
But let’s get to point of the matter:
Does anyone?actually?dislike reading?
I don’t believe so.
It is my belief that when someone thinks this, they’re wrong. And instead, it’s one of two possibilities.
Possibility Number 1
This is what happened to me.
I was never an intellectual as a kid and usually just found myself doing mind-numbing activities like watching TV or playing video games.
However, when I was around 12, my mother showed me a collection of fictional books. She told me to just have a go at one of the books to see if I liked them. I think the only reason I accepted the suggestion was that my best friend had read the same collection and said it was really cool.
Regardless of why I was willing to give it a shot, the truth is I?loved?it.
After that first book, I quickly devoured the entire collection of 20 books within a couple of years.
At this point, you may be thinking “Ok, this guy is just telling me the origin of his love for reading books.”
But no! You’d be wrong.
Why?
Because after I read that whole collection, I read maybe 3 or 4 books in the next 10 years.
Now, why did that happen?
Because around the age of 13 was when my school started to?demand?that we, the students, read certain books.
No justification other than “It’s part of the program”.
Naturally, being a teenager and all, I rebelled against that.
Out of those 3 or 4 books I read from 13 to 23 years of age,?one?of them was a book that I was required to read by my school.
Throughout the entirety of high school, I must’ve been supposed to read at least 6 books. The one I read was the smallest one.
Other than those books, I only read the usual school curriculum books. And that was only when I had to study for a test.
So, I think it’s safe to say that?Possibility Number 1?is having school ruin your love for reading.
How?
Simply by not allowing you to choose what to read and not even justifying why you need to read a specific book. They simply tell you and don’t expect you to have any decision on the matter.
This will OBVIOUSLY kill your love for reading since you’re being forced to do so.
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You can’t make someone do something they don’t want to do. They will either end up hating the “something” or they will hate the person who made them do it.
This is the most dangerous possibility because it makes you decide at a kind of advanced age that you?don’t like to read.
After you decide that, you don’t really consider it again. You just accept it as true, which is what makes it such a dangerous thing. It could just make you never read again.
Just like school can make kids dislike learning, it can also make kids dislike reading.
Possibility Number 2
This one is just finding books?boring.
But I want you to think about that deeply.
Is it common amongst the older generations to think that reading is boring?
It’s really not.
Until the radio or the TV came along, reading was one of the most entertaining things you could do.
I just wrote an article on dopamine addiction. And that’s exactly what might be your problem if this possibility applies to you.
You may be so stimulated by dopamine, that reading a book is simply insufficient to entertain your dopamine-seeking brain.
If you’re not overly stimulated, then you’ll feel captured by the words of a great book and you’ll be able to imagine in your mind what the authors describe with just their words.
But if you’re just used to being on your phone for 6 or more hours a day, then naturally your brain has lost its capacity for that.
It has probably even lost its capacity to focus for longer than 5 minutes.
After all, social media does everything for you.
The videos are as simple and as obvious as possible, very rarely calling for any challenging cognitive function.
It’s just a matter of watching and being entertained. The ultimate shortcut to lazy dopamine hits.
This will lead you nowhere.
You need to CUT DOWN on your phone usage and eventually, your brain will be able to be entertained again by something that isn’t a screen. Eventually, it will be able to focus on something that is productive
Why Does Reading Matter?
A lot of people also say that reading doesn’t matter and that’s why they don’t read.
But how can you say it doesn’t matter?
If you’re not learning, then you’re not growing. And if you’re not growing, well then you’re just wasting your life away.
Your brain is a MIRACLE of nature. You can constantly increase your knowledge
Why wouldn’t you do it?
We all get better with experience and reading a book can be like learning from the experience someone gained over their?entire lifetime. But you’re just taking 1 or 2 weeks to learn it. That is crazy!
Reading is an INSANE shortcut to knowledge. An INSANE shortcut to becoming a better and more intelligent version of yourself
It can help you do anything you want including getting to know yourself better.
If you’re not reading, you’re literally wasting all of your brain’s potential.
So get to reading!
Never stop hustling & never stop dreaming,
- Dez
P.S. I’m a Success Coach and I’d be happy to help you gain the incredible habit of reading if you think you could use some help! You can check out my official website?https://kaidezen.com/?for more information