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furiously studying for my upcoming exams 🫖

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24/09/02

I enjoy my home office so much it helps me get to work actually. I am forever picking through this outline and working on some signage for a volunteer gardening group.

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23/09/24 || Monday

Wow, September is ending. Time really flew past this year. Preparations for masters applications are going through and it's both stressful and exciting. I'm going to mom's birthplace for a week, so hopefully some posts will be of the village I absolutely adore.

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₊⊹ 25.09.24 ⊹₊

Tomorrow is the first official day of teaching for my course! (last week was induction)

Yesterday and today I finished the theory pre-lecture reading and an online quiz ♡ 

Person-Centred Experiential Theory Hours private study: 4/150 Contact hours: 0/50

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new apartment same desk setup

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Day 10, Relearning to Study

I am too used to escape the reality that I struggle with focusing. It's my comfort zone and I am somewhat reluctant to leave it.

But I want to. I am planning to practice mindfulness.

Whatever will be will be.

The future is not ours to see.

Don't worry, if it's supposed to happen, it will.

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love. another book on my tbr

reading crime and punishment in a nyc book themed bar 🕰️

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hey everyone! school got chaotic so i kind of disappeared but i'm finally getting into an academic rhythm again so i hope to be more active.

currently reading: the heaven and earth grocery store by james mcbride

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currently borrowing 📚

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“The sea is emotion incarnate. It loves, hates, and weeps. It defies all attempts to capture it with words and rejects all shackles. No matter what you say about it, there is always that which you can’t.” 

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god, i can't wait to read this book LOL

I had to put Fourth Wing on pause because 1) i had to get my glasses fixed and was blind for a week and now 2) i finally got Funny Story and want to read it asap

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one thing i miss about my brief time in the midwest is FALL! the best season!!!~

Instagram credit: not.so.well.read

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30 August 2023

Yesterday's pictures. Had a long day in school full of activities, food and the lovely company of my friends. <3

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reminder that reading is supposed to be fun!! these are all great tips if you've fallen off the reading wagon

how to start reading again

from someone who was a voracious reader until high school and is now getting back into it in her twenties.

start with an old favourite. even though it felt a little silly, i re-read the harry potter series one christmas and it wiped away my worry that i wasn't capable of reading anymore. they are long books, but i was still able to get completely immersed and to read just as fast as i had years and years ago.

don't be afraid of "easier" books. before high school i was reading the french existentialists, but when getting back into reading, i picked up lucinda riley and sally rooney. not my favourite authors by far, but easier to read while not being totally terrible. i needed to remind myself that only choosing classics would not make me a better or smarter person. if a book requires a slower pace of reading to be understood, it's easier to just drop it, which is exactly what i wanted to avoid at first.

go for essays and short stories. no need to explain this one: the shorter the whole, the less daunting it is. i definitely avoided all books over 350 pages at first and stuck to essay collections until i suddenly devoured donna tartt's goldfinch.

remember it's okay not to finish. i was one of those people who finished every book they started, but not anymore! if i pick up a book at the library and after a few chapters realise i'd rather not read it, i just return it. (another good reason to use your local library! no money spent on books you might end up disliking.)

analyse — or don't. some people enjoy reading more when they take notes or really stop to think about the contents. for me, at first, it was more important to build the habit of reading, and the thought of analysing what i read felt daunting. once i let go of that expectation, i realised i naturally analyse and process what i read anyway.

read when you would usually use your phone. just as i did when i was a child, i try to read when eating, in the bathroom, on public transport, right before sleeping. i even read when i walk, because that's normally a time i stare at my screen anyway. those few pages you read when you brush your teeth and wait for a friend very quickly stack up.

finish the chapter. if you have time, try to finish the part you're reading before closing the book. usually i find i actually don't want to stop reading once i get to the end of a chapter — and if i do, it feels like a good place to pick up again later.

try different languages. i was quickly approaching a reading slump towards the end of my exchange year, until i realised i had only had access to books in english and that, despite my fluency, i was tired of the language. so as soon as i got back home i started picking up books in my native tongue, which made reading feel much easier and more fun again! after some nine months, i'm starting to read in english again without it feeling like a huge task.

forget what's popular. i thought social media would be a fun way to find interesting books to read, but i quickly grew frustrated after hating every single book i picked up on some influencer's recommendation. it's certainly more time-consuming to find new books on your own, but this way i don't despise every novel i pick up.

remember it isn't about quantity. the online book community's endless posts about reading 150 books each year or 6 books in a single day easily make us feel like we're slow, bad readers, but here's the thing: it does not matter at all how many books you read or what your reading pace is. we all lead different lives, just be proud of yourself for reading at all!

stop stressing about it. we all know why reading is important, and since the pandemic reading has become an even more popular hobby than it was before (which is wonderful!). however, there's no need to force yourself to be "a reader". pick up a book every now and then and keep reading if you enjoy it, but not reading regularly doesn't make you any less of a good person. i find the pressure to become "a person who reads" or to rediscover my inner bookworm only distances me from the very act of reading.

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for one of the book clubs im in, this is our next read and im so excited! shoutout to the library for coming in clutch because i really didn't want to drop $20 on a new book this week