Ever since I was very young, like maybe six or seven, I have enjoyed reading as a hobby. This is because I think reading books is fun and honestly, no one ever talks bad about reading. You’ll never see a point/counterpoint news article about whether or not reading is good or two people debating over it. Everyone knows it is good for them, but it’s just a matter of doing it or not. But I’m not here to make decisions for you. 

Back then I was reading shorter books, so I would just fly through books like someone bet me I couldn’t. It was often Captain Underpants, Big Nate, Diary of a Wimpy Kid or James Patterson kids books. All the books I read in some way involved young kids doing things that would seriously be a much bigger deal in the real world, which I couldn’t relate to, but it was fun anyway. 

Over the years, I have kept at it and it has made me seriously consider my priorities from time to time. I grew up not really paying attention to sports, which gave me a lot of time to read because sports are on national television 363 days of the year. It was an easy decision: watch sports with my family or read alone? I chose reading every time. My parents knew this and through Christmas and my birthday presents over the course of several years, I developed an impressive collection of books. This led to interesting conversations with friends. “What did you get for Christmas?” I would ask them. “Video games and clothes,” they would say (or something like that). When I told them I got a certain book, they tried to relate but usually couldn’t. 

Over time, I started to write and illustrate my own stories, but I don’t really want to get into what they were about. It was mainly me mocking one of the writing styles and plot of whatever author I liked the most at the time. So I literally filled notebooks with stories about kids becoming superheroes or just kids living normal lives before suddenly being thrown into random experiences like moving to a big city, making a time machine or getting involved in some sort of murder mystery. All of these ideas were derived from the books I was reading and my imagination. Then it got to the point where I wanted to write and publish a book or multiple books at some point in the future, which is still a goal of mine. 

These past few years, my reading routine has evolved a little. Starting in 2020, I started writing down the books I read over the course of the year. That is a really interesting statistic. In 2020, I read 51 books. I was aided by a global pandemic, though. Then in 2021 I was really feeling the effects of not having so much free time as I only finished 33 books. And I guess this year I have either been incredibly busy or I just don’t like reading as much anymore as I have only finished 16 books this year. That is a 70 percent decrease! I guess the year isn’t over yet, but still! It probably isn’t a bad thing, though. This past year, I was the football and basketball manager and I worked about 35 hours a week at Walmart, so maybe I’m being more productive. Also, I’d like to think I’m more social now than ten years ago. I still like reading, but my lack of reading is probably not as bad as I think it is. I’d like to think I’m changing for the better as my relationship with reading isn’t as unhealthy as it used to be.