Everyone is a Reader

I so often hear people say “I wish I was a reader” or “One day I’m going to become a reader.” I’ve always wished as an adult I was “a runner.” I think we all have things like this in our life. And we do have limits. I’m not here to say we can all be all things. But I am pleased to tell you that reading isn’t one of them and that if you are reading these words, you are a reader!

I feel fortunate that I’ve loved reading from an early age but I’m a firm believer that just because that may have not been the case for you doesn’t mean anything about your life as a reader now and what it can become. 

Being surrounded by books always makes me marinate on all that I don’t know, instead of what I do. That notion has always been a thrilling one to me. When I was younger, going to a Barnes and Noble would give me this rush, not just because of a new book that I was going to get but the thought that there’s more information in and about the world than I could ever possibly understand. I always found some strange feeling of comfort in that and still do. 

Research shows that, give or take, how many minutes you read a day equals how many books you’ll read this year. So what if you just shoot for two? Read two minutes a day and you’ll read two books this year you otherwise wouldn’t have. Or maybe you already do that but really want to read more. 60 minutes a day would be roughly 60 books this year. That might be a stretch and it’s more than I can squeeze in, though recently I have started supplementing with audio in the car. At home I read the physical book and in the car, or on walks, I listen. This has helped me trudge through a few 500+ pagers more quickly than I otherwise could have. Anyway, all this to say, if you can read, you are a reader and even a few minutes a day beckons us all to an expanded understanding of… something.