We’ve all been there. One week you’re reading book after book, starting a new title as soon as you finish the last one. Crushing your TBR list (or ignoring it entirely for the books that pop up from your favorite influencers). Your hitting your reading goal, or even surpassing it. The the next week you can’t seem to pick up a single book. Everything is either the wrong topic, too similar to what you’ve been reading, or just plain not interesting. It’s frustrating, especially when you know that title sitting on your nightstand is perfect for you, but you just can’t get into it. You’re in a reading rut.
This happens to me quite often. It’s my own fault. I’m usually consuming at least three books at one time, sometimes four. Right now I have an audio book, a non-fiction book, and two fiction books. One for fun and one to review for the blog (and for fun, because that is how I am picking the books I review right now). It’s a lot, but I love reading. I’ve loved reading for as long as I can remember. If you’re reading this, you likely love books just as much as I do. So why do we get into these ruts, going days, weeks, or even months without reading? And how do we get out of them?
Possible Causes and Solutions
I Just Don’t Have Time I get it. Sometimes it’s a miracle to even get through the day. Long shifts, demanding kids, illness, and many other things take up a lot of time. Piling up laundry and dishes take precedence over hobbies.
Solution There are a couple things I would suggest here. First, write out a rough schedule of your day. Where is the dead time? How much time do you spend doom scrolling on Instagram or TikTok? Can you replace that with reading? I’m not saying give up the apps completely. I use Instagram everyday. Try replacing one habit with the other.
Second, can you wake up a little earlier, even just 30 minutes, or stay up a little later? Reading before bed can be great, as long as you don’t end up staying up all night losing precious sleep. Try just reading one chapter, or set a timer on your phone for twenty minutes.
Lastly, try habit stacking. Maybe you truly don’t have time to sit down and read a physical book. Try audio books. Listen while you do chores, run errands, workout, take a shower. Audio books are still books. Don’t let the stigma that “listening to audio books doesn’t count.” One, that’s ableism, two, it’s just wrong.
Burnout Life gets busy, and with constant business comes burnout. Kids, jobs, pets, partners, maintaining our homes. We have way more responsibilities than we did when we were kids and teens. We just can’t handle any more stimulation to our brains. When we are constantly overstimulated, our brains are reacting in the same way they would if we were being chased by a lion or an axe murderer. Except the stress stops when the lion gives up, or we die. In our current society, the stressors don’t go away. They might pause, like going home for the day or the weekend, leaving the emails and problems for Monday, but they aren’t gone, and our brains know that. So we are constantly in yellow alert. That stress compounds until we can’t handle it anymore.
Solution We have to close the stress response cycle. This can be done through working out, meditation, diaphragmatic breathing, relaxation like yoga, or hobbies. For hobbies I would recommend something other than reading. Something that uses your hands like crafting. (If you choose sewing for this, don’t start by making a king size quilt. Just trust me on this one.)
Depression Our mental health is important. Everyone is capable of experiencing depression. Sometimes it is caused by external factors and other times it is caused by the wiring in our brains. Depression makes participating in things we once enjoyed difficult.
Solution If you think this is the cause, please seek medical help. It can go away on its own, but it might not. And you don’t have to go through it alone. Support groups can also help.
There Are So Many Books I’m Overwhelmed I feel this one a lot. It’s hard to choose when there is so much out there. Even when I’m trying to stick to specific genres, never mind when I branch out to try something new. Decision fatigue is real, and it can suck the joy out of any hobby.
Solution There are a few things you can do here. Ask a friend for a recommendation. Pick a random book from your TBR and commit. Go to your local library and choose one single shelf to limit your choices. I like to choose the new arrivals. Stay away from BookTok. Not forever, just for a week or two. See if that helps. I know the FOMO is real, but it will be there when you get back. Stick to short, quick reads. You’ll feel so much better when the pile starts stacking up. A book rut is not the time to pick that five hundred page monstrosity everyone is recommending.
I Just Don’t Feel Like It Sometimes there isn’t a deep reason as to why we stop reading. Some people stop for years only to find a book that resonates and reignites the love of reading all over again. That’s okay. You’re not a better or worse person because you do or don’t read. I had a manager who would tell me, often, that she has never read a book in her life. That’s fine.
Solution There isn’t one. Hobbies come and go. Maybe you’ll pick this one up again someday, maybe you won’t. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad because you don’t read, or because you used to and stopped. We live in a society where our hobbies often shape our identities, but we are more complex than that.
Reread Your Favorites
This has its own section because it fits into many of the solutions listed above. Think about the books you loved a child or a teen. What book got you into reading in the first place? For me it was the Little House books my mother used to read to me before bed. Then it was Goosebumps and Magic Tree House.
Rereading your favorites helps in a couple ways. First, if they’re from your childhood, they probably read pretty quickly. Second, they bring you back to that time in your life, that feeling of joy from reading something you truly enjoy. The subsequent boost in dopamine may be just what you need to jump back in.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, I do consider rereading a book to count toward my yearly reading goal.
How do you get out of a reading rut? Are you in one right now? Let me know in the comments here or on my Facebook or Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Alicia Coast 