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Okay, I need to be honest: life as a PhD student is no joke. Toss in job hunting, hobbies, and just trying to keep everything afloat, things got overwhelming real quick. Amid all this, I had a “hold up” moment. I realized I needed to strip away all the titles and stress for a sec and get back to ME. That meant rekindling an old flame: my love for reading.

Rewind to my childhood, and you’d find me practically living in the cozy corner of my neighboring small town library and begging for daily runs to Books-a-million. Summer days were all about curling up with a new book and getting lost in it until the sun went down. But then, life happened. I got caught up in cheerleading, obsessing over Disney Channel, and messing around on our family’s Gateway computer (nostalgia, right?). Books, unfortunately, fell by the wayside.

Now, here I am, dealing with grown-up stuff — job loss, a recent breakup, and the constant pressure of my research. I needed an escape, something to ground me again. That’s when I thought, “Why not jump back into reading, but just for the fun of it?” Setting a goal of 10 books seemed doable amidst my chaos.

Kicking It Off

I’d love to say I had some grand plan, but no. I went for what felt right: I got back on Goodreads, Storygraph, and Libby, dusted off my library card, and did a quick check of the books I already had (because yes, I kept collecting them — they were my “one day” pile).

Picking My Reads

I didn’t make this complicated. It was about what grabbed my attention. And yep, I snagged a Kindle Paperwhite because I wanted to check out those e-books from Libby. I’m all about thrillers and romances, especially from POC and Queer authors, but I’m keeping an open mind for anything that sounds cool.

Wanna Join?

If my ramblings got you thinking about your reading days, why not give it another shot? Start small. Hit up Libby, grab your library card, and you’ll have a stack of books on your phone in no time. Use Goodreads or Storygraph to keep tabs on your reading, and hey, challenge yourself!

Diving back into reading might inspire you to not only explore digital books with a Kindle, like I embraced, but also to revisit the charm of physical books, enriching your shelves with new tales. Whatever enhances your reading adventure, be it the convenience of electronic versions or the tangible pleasure of paperbacks, it’s all about creating the perfect atmosphere for your literary journey!

I’m excited to share this ride with you all. Who knows what stories we’ll dive into? What’s sure is the chill vibes that come from kicking back with a good book. Ready for this? Let’s turn the page!