How I Am Seeking out My Hidden Bookworm This Year for My Mental Health

I have to say I am not a fan of New Year resolutions. Mainly because I have applied for enough gym memberships in January, that I could own my own gym. None of these I have visited more than five times, yet still, I get suckered into paying for a year. Forbes says 80% of New Year's resolutions are abandoned in February. This year is different though, I have made a resolution I am determined to keep.

I need to start reading for enjoyment again. Not reading for research or to achieve a ridiculous number I put on my Goodreads, but for pure pleasure.

My love for reading started at an early age and was engineered entirely by my mother. From my first memories to current ones, my mum has always had a book in her hand. I saw the joy escaping gave her; I knew I wanted to learn more. I became an avid reader, ploughing through all the Famous Five and Secret Seven books with her encouragement. When friends invited me to the park, I made excuses to stay at home and read.

My tastes have changed since then; now, I have the joy of swapping books with my mum. The first thought I have, whenever I finish a book, is I can't wait for my mum to read it, so we can talk about it. Reading is the greatest thing my mother ever shared with me.

Reading also improves my mental health. Escaping into another world of fantasy helps my brain rest from all my worries. I have always known when I don't read, I struggle to relax, even my sleep is affected.

This is why you can imagine how confused I am that when lockdown started, I stopped reading for pleasure. I never picked up a book for months. I have no explanation why. Yet, at the very time, I like millions, needed to escape the actual world; I stopped reading.

It wasn't as if I never read anything. I read articles on writing better and researched true crime cases, but I never picked up a novel and chilled.

This is the main reason I quit reading. I was so consumed with making money to feed my kids when I couldn't teach. So I only read to research.

When I needed the escapism of reading, I forgot to be kind to myself and escape. I also wasn't able to swap books with my mum. Subconsciously, maybe this played into my reluctance to read.

This year though, I resolve to be kinder to myself and read. To be devoured by the pages of a good story again.

For the first year in a decade, I have set my book total on Goodreads low. I don't want the pressure; although I am sure I will eclipse my target, I don't want this number handing over my head.

To help with my resolution, I have enlisted the help of three techniques to fall in love with literature again.

Serial reader is an application that is free to download. It contains a vast number of classic books that you can read. Rather than downloading the whole book, these are delivered to your device daily in bitesize chunks. The beauty of this application is there is no pressure to read on, although you can if you wish. The smaller pieces make larger books more manageable and easier to read.

Many people have spoken to me about audiobooks. I have also read many articles about how much readers love them; until this year, I have not been a fan. Every once in a while, I give them another try, but they rarely are for me. This year I will try them again, but rather than paying for a subscription service that puts pressure on you to listen to a certain amount, I am buying them as I go. This way, I have no pressure and time constraints to get through more than I want.

Finally, my partner has helped me hugely this year with my reading goals. For Christmas, she bought me only books, all from my wishlist. So I now have a lovely collection of books at my fingertips to read.

These three will help me with my resolution, which will ensure I am kinder to me, something we all need to remember at ties.

I can already see the visible bonus of my resolution after just a week. My family are also benefitting through my children seeing me with a book in my hand. Both girls, four and two, have been caught with a book in their hand over the last two days. They have started their journey with reading.

I am sure this will be my only successful resolution. After all, what parent wouldn't continue with results like this.

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