More often than not I run across people who don’t read. It’s not because they don’t have an interest in reading a good novel, it’s because they don’t have time.  Someone went so far as to say it was more about getting hooked on a book or series of books, and then getting distracted from work or life or chores or family. I’ve heard this same “excuse” several times lately from various people.

You’ve heard that we make time for things we consider important.  But it’s difficult to find time even for the important things, isn’t it? So how does one fit reading into a hectic schedule?

It’s true that you can get hooked on a book and then other things get pushed aside. There’s the other side of the equation where the important things interrupt your book world in the middle of a great scene and you have to put the book down.  A painful experience, to be sure.  I understand the mindset that if you never pick up a good book to begin with, you won’t have to feel the pain of putting it down when life interrupts.  You won’t have to worry about neglecting the more important, the more necessary things of life.

Then why put yourself through it? How important is reading for pleasure anyway?

To an addict, reading is as vital to life, to the soul, as air is to the body. Okay, maybe that’s going a little far, but once you’ve experienced where words can take you, time is no longer your master because you become a time-traveler.

Time isn’t your enemy. Time is your friend.