Sometimes we all need a vacation from diabetes. I’m not burnt out, and I’m not pitching an “I don’t wanna do this anymore!” fit, I’m just tired. Another post on that later this week. For now, here is a post that is NOT about diabetes, because any day can be No D-Day if you need it to be.

One of my goals for this year, among others, has been to find time to do more leisure reading. I am guilty of getting so consumed with the billion things that take moments from my day that I never stop to take a few moments of just quiet time to be still and read.

And I’m a librarian. Shameful, I know.

I wouldn’t trade many of the things that consume my time, but I believe that there is some peace in losing yourself in a good book.

The bit of reading that I’ve been doing over the past year or so has been work related, such as library journals, medical journals, business, political and technology news articles. There is no escape from reality when reading that kind of material.

So here are some things that are helping me get back on the joy of reading wagon:

1. Be in bed by midnight (or whatever your bedtime may be). Not necessarily asleep, but just in bed and settled. Great time to turn a few pages.
2. Visit your local public library. My local public library allows you up to six weeks with a book before you have to turn it back in, and it affords you the liberty to try a book that you may know nothing about. If it’s terrible, you’re only out the time it took to go to the library and get it.
3. Take your book to work with you. I know that not every job allows for the opportunity to crack a book, but I’ve found sometimes when my brain is full and I need a quick mental break, I can open a book and read a couple pages and it helps. Plus, if you use public transit to get to and from work, reading is a much more entertaining way to pass the time than awkwardly trading stares with strangers. Well, most of the time. Sometimes making people in public feel uncomfortable is fun too.
4. Read when traveling. I have to go out of town and teach every so often, and I try to drag along a book that isn’t work related to read while I’m at my hotel. I like to orbit near the hotel lobby coffee and a big comfy chair where I can alternate between reading and people watching, but that’s me.
5. Get a bookmark that represents your personality. As crazy as it sounds, I think if you save a place in a book with a bookmark that matches you, it marks that place as YOUR place, and you are more likely to revisit it and continue reading sooner than later. (Sidenote: E-readers and apps need to get on this concept. You read it here first.)

Now I’m going to go continue reading “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” because it has absolutely nothing to do with work, diabetes, or anything else.