@bookishpodcast
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 2:42

Books and stress

As time went on, due to being worried about my office and everything else, I started slipping and sliding and I wasn't reading much, and I was trying, but I couldn't. I couldn't focus. And when life takes over, a long story short, in about a month or two, I was down to two books from six books I had. And then things got almost back to normal and I started building it up

How stress affects your reading...

@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 2:47
Thank you so much for starting a conversation about this. I feel very seen in everything you said, and I'm kind of embarrassed to admit how much reading and books can stress me out sometimes because it's such just a passion of mind. And if there is anything, I wish I had more time for every single week it is reading. It's a big reason why I try to, even though it's not my preferred mode
@bookishpodcast
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 4:42

Forgive yourself! Reachable goals.

But I also accept that I can do better. And so I'll look at my day and I'll go, Well, where was that missing link? What happened? Why was I tired? Could that have been changed? And if it cannot be changed? And if what I needed was to just vetch out on the couch, you know what? That's okay. I forgive myself. Today was not a reading day. So be it. So those are some things I do
@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@bookishpodcast
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 1:38

@rachel book peer pressure with book club and book buddies

And that puts it on the foreground of your brain, that forefront of your brain that you're like, okay, I got to do this. So that's another way to do it. So get a buddy, join a book club and all those great things or just hang out with me long enough. And that's all I ever talk about. I'm so boring. It's all books, books, books
@Ramya
Ramya V
@Ramya · 3:07

Loving this conversation!

But the ironic thing here is that reading is supposed to be therapeutic and relieving you of stress and all that. But what if it is that very stress that holds you back from reading in the first place? Something to think about
@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 2:00

reading as a writer (lol out of breath from a 🏃🏼‍♀️)

I love this conversation so much. It's so nice to know that I'm not alone in all of this. First of all, I love that you mention book clubs and book buddies because since I've been able to I've I've been having multiple private conversations about a few books I've been reading over the past several months with friends on Swell, and I have read and finished more books in the past couple of months
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