Kate's guide for reading slumps

We all know the worst nightmare for a bookworm, a reading slump. The thing about a reading slump is you can’t read a paragraph and concentrate while reading it; You don’t even understand what you’re reading AND THAT FREAKS YOU OUT. Sometimes a reading slump might last more than 3 months, or maybe weeks, but having a long term reading slump feels like the end of the world and you haven’t finished all your readings yet so you want to make it stop. My last reading slump lasted 7 seven months, at first I didn’t try anything to overcome it because I was busy between work and college and I thought it was just stress, but it wasn’t stress. It was just me. But how did I get over my long term reading slump? Here’s a little list I made that worked for me and hopefully it’ll work for you too;

1. Re-organize your TBR. Organizing your TBR can help you, it makes you realize what books you’re truly willing to read or to add a few books you really want to read. You also can delete all those books you added before and make a new list.
2. Booktubers, bookstagrams and bookblrs. Feeling bad while watching happy booktubers doing reviews for the 200 books they’ve read in a month can help. You can do it too. Smash them. Read 500 books in a month, or 2, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you enjoy reading again. But Personally when I have a reading slump I like to go through my instagram or tumblr and see all those appealing bookshelves, books with candles, books with ferrets, books and thighs, and think “Oh, I can do that too, I can love books again as much as these crazy people. I am crazy about books.”
3. Re-organize your bookshelves. I don’t know about you but I like organizing stuff and while I do it I always find things that I used to like and start liking them again. It happens with books too.
4. Write. If you’re not a writer, you can write how much you now hate books and how you get bored while reading and can’t even concentrate on a single word. It helps. Maybe write a poem about how much you miss reading and enjoying it.
5. Try a different format. Ebooks, kindle, Audible, graphic novels, etc. Reading a book on a new format can help you go through your reading slump and maybe find a favorite format.
6. Buy a new book. Wasting money on a book you know you won’t read instantly makes you fantasize about reading it soon. Buy a book you’ve always wanted to read and haven’t yet, this can make you feel like you have to read it sooner or later because you know that slump will end sometime. Also, when buying a new book don’t be afraid the amount of pages, a book of 100 pages can be heavier than a 500 one, so don’t let anything hold you back, just enjoy your time at the bookshop.
7. Re-read. Sometimes re-reading your favorite book helps to get over slumps, feeling that excitement again or knowing how exactly the story goes can make your reading easier.
8. Read a children's book. Who says children’s books are exclusively for kids? They’re written by grown ups so I think that means something. The good thing about reading children’s book or middle age ones is that they’re easy to read and most of the time they’re short.
9. Binge watch on netflix. You can see a reading slump as a time for you to rest, to give your eyes a rest.     So, netflix and chill may not help your eyes but it will help giving your body and mind a rest.
10. Try a new genre you’re not used to. At first trying a new genre might scare you, because you probably will end up hating it but it might be the best thing you’ve done since you started reading books. So, try it! Look at it as a challenge to explore new worlds.
11. Stalk your goodreads friends. Stalking always works, so why not? Seeing how much your friends have been reading might make you jealous and you’ll want to read again.
12. Ask for professional help. If none of the above works, you’ll need professional help. You can’t despise books forever, like what the heck?? A shrink might help you.

Remember it doesn’t matter how many books you read, the important thing here is to read. So if you read only one book in month that’s OK, don’t get overwhelmed about it or don’t feel bad because your friends read more than you, we all have our own timing about the things we do. So, read at your own pace. Don’t waste your time reading a book you don’t like, if a book makes you feel like you’re wasting your time and you want to read it just because everyone is reading it, don’t. Use that time on another book, don’t settle for bad ones. Like I read somewhere: “Life is too short to read bad books or drink bad wine.”