7 Reasons Why You Should Be Reading

There has been a huge shift in entertainment, from wholesome family time viewings, to personal and sometimes brain rotting electronic activities. As humans, we require a balance of the two opposites, we must continue to stimulate our brains through consuming different types of media, but has the day of mental nourishment come to a halt? Reading is a means of keeping your mind healthy and sharp. We need our brains to last a lifetime and how can we expect that of the organ if we aren’t keeping it active and maintaining a routine? Here are seven reasons you should be reading:

1. Reduces Stress

You come home, throw your bags on the floor in anguish and try to leave the workplace at the door. We’ve all been there. In the age of technological advances and constant distractions, time slows for no one. You deserve a break, a nice relaxing vacation. But like we said, time doesn’t stop, and it certainly won’t for you. Isolating yourself in a comfortable space with a paperback, though, can make you feel like it has. Treat yourself with a little escape from your same old setting by reading books that will sweep you off to new places. Tea anyone?

2. Builds Your Vocabulary

Do you sometimes talk yourself in circles? You’re walking your friends through an encounter with the cute boy at the coffee shop for the third time, and realize you’re no longer excited to share this experience with them. Could it be because the accidental brushing of your pinkies wasn’t thrilling? Or is it because you’re reciting the same event like a terrible loop of Friday by Rebecca Black. It’s time to pick up a novel. Sprucing up your descriptive language can open a new realm of storytelling. Instead of talking your friends through it, they can experience the tale as if they’d been the one receiving your dairy-free latte.

3. Improves Focus

Whether it's at school, home, or work, we need all the help we can get when it comes to getting in the zone. Reading is an excellent way to train your focus. Not allowing the little things to whisk us away from our work will offer great rewards, whether it’s earning a bit of free time because you’ve finished an assignment before the deadline, or granting yourself the mental capacity to daydream about the vacation you’re planning for Winter Break… The benefits of an improved focus can extend to all outlets of your life.

4. Keeps Your Kids Reading

Leading by example is vital when it comes to raising children, even ones that aren’t your own! Have you ever poured yourself a bowl of cereal and to your surprise found your younger sibling joining you shortly after? You could have sworn you saw them eat something not too long ago, and yet now that you’re eating a bowl, they’ve got to have one too. This type of mirroring can happen in all activities. If you just take the time to read, your children will pick up on the hobby too. No one can resist the status quo.

5. Helps You Understand How People Feel

Through reading about expressions and monologues, you get to learn how emotions are presented in real life. This development can aid in understanding how the people around you feel about or react to certain situations. Sometimes we're clueless. Every experience is unique, and you may not have gone through these things personally, but by reading from people who have, you can learn to sympathize. Then, you can evaluate in which ways you can be useful to the people you care about. In turn, this skill will assist you in developing other communication techniques.

6. Cultivates Critical Thinking

When you read novels of a wide variety and genre, you open your mind to new perspectives. Being a critical thinker is not something you can expect to write on a resume without being questioned on how you apply this skill. It's important that you understand thinking critically is acknowledging that yours is not the only perspective in existence. Being a critical thinker means you go out of your way to hear other's voices in order to present your best ideas, time and time again. Employers love hearing that you care about opinions, after all, customer service is people pleasing for a check.

7. Makes You More Attractive

A man in uniform is so 90s, but a man reading? Does it get any better? Being proactive in gaining knowledge about the world around you will score you points with the people that matter. Your future employer, avid readers, and potential dates will come swarming. Even if you use that book in the same way you use the suit (as an accessory to your success), know what the book you’ve been carrying around for the past three months is about and everyone will make it their personal mission in life to stay updated on your next read.

Conclusion

Reading is to the mind what water is to the body, the benefits of this activity remain unrivaled by all other, mental recreational exercises. You never know when your enhanced skills will come in handy, this reason alone should be enough to persuade you to pick up some more books. Next time you're planning an outing, map out a stop by a bookstore or local library, because reading should be as fun as it is necessary. Keeping reading relevant will not only benefit upcoming generations, but you of today, by keeping a crucial piece of you alive and thriving. Your brain.

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