Being a bookworm/blogger takes up a lot of time. I mean
have you seen the size of my TBR lately? Let me put it into perspective
for you. I OWN 108 books that I haven't read. What the what? And my wishlist is almost 200
books long. So yeah, it's a bit intense. It's kind of tempting when you
have that many books to read to become a shut-in. To never go out with
friends, to never do anything outside of your own home because all you
want to do is sit and read. I mean, that's all I want to do.
I forget this. A lot. Every time a friend asks me to do something, my immediate reaction is to think up an excuse to say no. Because I want to go home and read or blog. But lately I've been saying yes more and more and it's been great. Have I been a little more stressed out about blog stuff lately? Maybe, but I'm also trying to learn to let go and just go with the flow. If I have time to schedule all my posts for the week, great. If not, then I guess there will be fewer posts than normal.
It's so refreshing to get out of the house, chat with friends,
and just have a good time. Not that reading isn't a good time, trust
me, it's my favorite thing to do. But I think it's important for all of
us book lovers out there to step out of our book worlds and not forget
about the real world.
What do you think? Do you spend too much time reading? Do
you think you should be spending more time out in the real world? How do
you balance social time and reading time?
Ohh great topic! I feel the same - I usually like staying in and reading but like the occassional going out with people, get coffee, catch a movie, etc. It's funny because since dental school was ending, all of my classmates and I have been kind of doing the omg-we're-not-going-to-see-each-other-every-day-we-must-go-out-ALL-THE-TIME thing. Haha. Just trying to get in as much time with them before we all leave. It's funny because most of my classmates are huge partiers so I rarely went out with them but now that the end is nigh (yeah i can be really dramatic sometimes), I've been going out with them a lot. They've been commenting how surprised they are that tehy see me out so much (haha bc I always stayed in so much) That basically took up any free time I had though which is why I read nothing and had nothing on the blog in April... ha. But in this case I felt like it was important because I'm really going to miss these people. :(
ReplyDelete(also, yes, going out to bars can get really expensive -- thank god for vegas happy hours haha)
Yeah, I'm the same way. I would much rather stay in and read. But it's nice to go out and actually be social occasionally. Lol. I'm glad that you got to spend a lot of time with your dental school friends! It's always hard when it's the end of something you've been doing for years isn't it? Hard to leave everybody behind. But also exciting because you're starting something new!
DeleteLately I've been hearing lots of people say their goal is to say yes more, so thank you for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! It's good to say yes sometimes. :)
DeleteI'm a new blogger yet and struggle with wanting to spend a lot of time on it, and balancing that with real life- aka a husband and three kids :) Add into that I just switched from blogger to wordpress (today woot!), and I have tons that I want to do on my new blog. But, I have to take a step back, and when kids and hubby come home, the blog is put aside. Reading is the same thing.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic today!
Finley Jayne
http://finleyjayne.com/
I understand how you feel. When I first started my blog that's all I wanted to do. Congrats on switching to wordpress! I want to do it, but I don't know if I want to pay for it. But I know there's a lot more customization options on wordpress.
DeleteDefinitely part of why I decided to take on a co-reviewer. The pressure to read 'all the books' and post every day is too much. I want to have time to do other things and like you said: hang out with my friends and not feel like I'm neglecting my blog. What about neglecting relationships, you know? I just keep reminding myself that THIS is a hobby like any other. And I want it to be fun, because otherwise what's the point?
ReplyDeleteBut that feeling of 'slacking' doesn't really go away when you miss a day, but I've made my peace by considering that it doesn't bother me at all if I drop in at someone's blog and they haven't posted for a day or two. I assume they are living their lives!
Good luck finding your balance and peace, Rebecca. Xo!
Exactly! And really, relationships are more important than the blog and more important than reading. Yes. I decided the day that this stops being fun is the day that I quit.
DeleteVery true. I do feel bad if I miss a day of posting, but you're right. I don't care at all when one of the blogs I follow hasn't posted anything in a few days. Thanks girly!
I've never been a hugely social person, but I do think that maybe I spend a lot more time blogging than others do. I do however always take one night a week with no blogging, no reading, no nothing just to spend time with best friend and have movies and food because you're right, you need friends. It breaks up my time, it's something to look forward to, and of course, going out shopping is being 'social', right? That counts. I'm usually at least a month in advance of posting anyway, so each month I read what books I read and review them and just get a month ahead naturally, so it's lucky :)
ReplyDeleteI think that's a great idea to put aside one night a week with no blog and no books. Shopping is definitely social! I love shopping! Wow, that's crazy that you can post out a month in advance. I do it weekly. :)
DeleteIt's definitely all about having balance, but also just having fun and doing what you like to do. Obviously making time for friends and family is important. I think everyone does different things to unwind and relax. I do probably read too much, but instead of cutting back time with friends and family, I've cut my tv watching time…and my cleaning time. So I'm not missing that (especially the cleaning)! :) But it's tempting to get completely lost in reading, that's what makes it so much fun! ~Pam
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree. There's definitely a balance. A lot of people say I read too much, but I don't really care. This is what I like doing. As long as I'm not completely secluding myself from the real world, I don't see what the problem is. :) Oh, and I hardly watch any tv anymore because I'd rather read.
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