Why I Routinely Take a Break from Reading
I’m a voracious reader.
I’m an author.
I routinely take reading breaks.
That third statement might sound ridiculous considering the first two, but I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that when I started taking breaks from reading, it changed my life.
Let me be clear here. I’m not talking about a period of time when I’m not able to read or don’t feel like reading. I’m talking about choosing to take a days-long break from all forms of reading even when I have the time and desire to do so.
How I Started Taking Reading Breaks
There have been times in my life when I’ve read very few if any books. The first year of the pandemic comes to mind. Even though I had plenty of time, I simply didn’t have the mental energy. I’ve also had periods where I didn’t read for pleasure because I was reading a lot for school or work. But for most of my life, it never occurred to me to take a purposeful break from all forms of reading.
I took my first complete reading break when I was working my way through The Artist’s Way. This book/course is helpful in many ways if you want to recapture your creative self and/or unblock your creative outflow, and I recommend it to anyone who is or wants to be a creator of any type of art (including writing).
In the fourth week of The Artist’s Way course, one of the tasks is to take a week of “reading deprivation.” In essence, you read absolutely no words in any medium for any reason. This book was written before the Internet, so I’m guessing a week of reading deprivation wasn’t quite as big of a deal or difficult to do as it is now, but it was still no small task to accomplish. (And the no reading for school or work part isn’t exactly realistic for most people.)
Here’s why the author recommends this reading deprivation:
“For most artists, words are like tiny tranquilizers. … We often cannot hear our own inner voice … above the static. … For most blocked creatives, reading is an addiction. We gobble the words of others rather than digest our own thoughts and feelings. … If we monitor the inflow and keep it to a minimum, we will be rewarded for our reading deprivation with embarrassing speed. Our reward will be a new outflow.”
(Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way: 30th Anniversary Edition; TarcherPerigee, 2016; 87)
Even though taking a complete break from reading seemed impossible and, frankly, ridiculous, I decided to do it. Before this break, I was reading fiction up to five hours a day, along with online news or articles for an hour or so and non-fiction books for up to an hour. (I told you I’m a voracious reader.) I also decided to take a break from TV, unless I was watching socially with someone else, because I didn’t want to simply substitute TV for reading.
I’m proud to say I did it. I read nothing for one week.
This is what happened when I took my reading break:
I reorganized three closets and my bathroom cabinets.
I went to my co-working space several times.
I spent more time with family.
I cooked a lot of meals and actually enjoyed it.
I went to bed before midnight every night.
I realized I use reading to fill any little bit of spare time and to procrastinate in many areas of my life.
I got out of a reading rut and started reading different genres after the break.
I started writing again after many, many months of not only writer’s block but also a complete lack of desire to write. Within three months I had finished writing two books!
I blew the metaphorical and literal dust off my art supplies and started creating again. That led to creating digital art, which I now sell in my Etsy shop.
Since then, I’ve taken shorter reading breaks of a few days or even just one day, and each break is helpful in its own way. Mostly, it makes me more productive because I’m removing my prime source of procrastination. But it also helps me be more creative because I have time to think and produce ideas and actually write or create other art.
If you’re interested in taking a reading break of your own, here are some things to consider.
Do what works for you.
You don’t have to take a weeklong complete reading break. However, I suggest trying it if you can, because that way you’ll see the drastic effects it can have on your life in various ways. But if you can’t, try it for three or four days. That’ll be enough for you to get an idea of how reading might be affecting your life in ways you didn’t realize.
You also don’t have to cut every type of reading out (though I recommend it for the first time you take a reading break). Think about the types of reading that suck up most of your time—books, news, even social media posts—and eliminate those. And FYI, listening to an audiobook is reading!
Don’t fill that time with an entertainment alternative.
Whenever you find yourself wanting to read during your break, you’ll be tempted to turn to TV or social media. But binge-watching an entire season of your new favorite show or doomscrolling on your phone won’t help you clear your head of all the words that might be blocking your creativity or productivity.
This is one way your creativity will be sparked, because you’ll have to come up with alternate ways to spend your time that don’t include absorbing information from all the many sources we literally have in the palm of our hand.
After the break, reflect on your experience.
Don’t just take the break and go back to life as usual. Write down what you learned about yourself, how the break changed your thinking, what kinds of creative ideas you had, and so on. Don’t waste the experience.
Let the reading break change the way you live and work.
To add to the last point, don’t just go back to life as it was before your break! Use what you learned and discovered to make positive changes in your life.
Are you ready to take a reading break? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!