Top 4 reasons why reading fiction daily should be part of your routine.
I didn't use to love reading. As a child, I stuttered when asked to read out loud. During English class, I’d hide my lanky self behind my textbook, hoping and praying that the teacher doesn't call on me to read the poem or passage from the story we were studying. Yet somewhere between my undergraduate program and my doctoral thesis, I developed a passion for fiction. Today, I can't go a day without reading a story that captures my imagination and engages my sense of curiosity and wonder about the world we live in, and the people who make this planet home.
In this post, I want to share my top 4 reasons why reading fiction should be part of our essential daily routines like having a meal and showering.
#1 READING FICTION HELPS YOU PRACTICE BEING IN THE MOMENT.
We live in an environment that demands us to pay attention to all the things happening around us. From social media to the social groups on our mobile devices, we are constantly bombarded with news that may or may not be important to us.
One of the best things we can do for ourselves every day is to let go of all that is and be in the moment. You can do that in many ways. Listening to your favorite songs, going for a walk, playing with your pets.
Reading fiction also allows for that type of time-out where you can immerse yourself with reading a story that brings you great pleasure, instead of reading news or stories that bring you discomfort. Immersing yourself in stories you enjoy without the worry of how it’ll affect you, is a good way to practice being in the moment.
#2 READING FICTION IS A GREAT WAY TO DE-STRESS WITHOUT THE DISTRESS!
Stress is a big factor in our lives. Sometimes when we have too much on our plate, it becomes a challenge to just let go and de-stress. Our mind is chattering about the project we have not completed, or the email we have not replied, or the group work we haven't started on.
One way to de-stress is to read a story. Reading fiction gives your mind something else to focus on besides your current challenges. You follow someone’s life story, their challenges, and the ways they learned to overcome these challenges. It might be funny if you are reading a comedy. It may contain elements of romance if you’re reading a romance novel. It might be suspenseful if you are reading a mystery or horror novel. It might be adventurous if you are reading a thriller or detective story. No matter the genre of the fiction, at the end of the reading experience, you’ve given your mind a ‘time-out’ from thinking about all the challenges you are facing. You may feel more rejuvenated after enduring a mirror experience of what the characters in the story had to go through. This is called a catharsis or a cleaning of emotions. You’ve had a new experience by reading the story, and your state of mind is no longer the same. You may even be able to look at your challenges and see a pathway to overcome them.
#3 READING FICTION ALLOWS YOU TO EXERCISE YOUR MENTAL CLARITY.
One of the effects of stress is it can cause you to lose focus, and at times, affect the clarity of your memory. You may experience a kind of brain fog where you can't seem to get your brain to work the way you want it to. You may experience a kind of lethargic and unmotivated state of mind.
One way to exercise your mental clarity and focus is through reading a novel. When you read a novel, you need to keep track of all the necessary information that makes the story important. You need to follow the line of narration in order to understand what the story is about and who are the main players of the story. As you read the story, your mind makes a map of the beginning, the middle, and the end of the narrative, and how the characters fit into the structure of the story. Your brain takes notes of these important aspects of the story in order to help you follow along. this brain exercise is not limited to the time spent reading the story. If you resume reading the story after a few days, you will still remember the story that you’ve read and can pick up from where you left off. That’s the power of your memory.
# 4 READING FICTION DEVELOPS YOUR BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF LIFE.
One of the effects of stress is that it can cripple us from seeing the big picture of how the challenges we are undergoing in the present moment can have a positive effect on our life in the future. We may only see the ‘now’ and feel that the challenge we experience cannot be overcome.
One way to train our mind to develop a bird’s eye view of life is through reading works of fiction. Every good story has a conflict that the character(s) has to endure. The conflict would usually be resolved after the character has gone through a kind of journey. During this process, the character does not feel like he/she can overcome the conflict. You as the reader, are accompanying the character in his/her journey. But you have the advantage of knowing that this story will come to an end. The conflict will not last forever. In fact, as most stories reveal, it is because of the conflict that the character is able to develop a stronger personality. And the conflict will somehow be resolved in the end. This big picture mindset is an important tool to have in our tool-kit. If we can put this way of thinking in our life, we may approach life with a more positive attitude that “This too shall pass!”
Stories we read mirror our life in many ways. Reading stories can be a mental exercise towards being in the present and de-stress, exercising focus and clarity, and develop a big picture mindset. Find stories that engage your mind and make time to read them every day, and see how these stories improve your state of mind.
