My Hands Down Favorite Purchase this Year

This is my hands-down favorite purchase this year, because it opened up my eyes to a new world. You see, I have always HATED, yes hated, to read. (It’s true, ask my mom, my past teachers, anybody really!) It was practically painful just to pick up a book of any kind and sit for more than a few minutes reading. As tough as this was through school, I wished I enjoyed it more when I became an adult. Kind of like my lifelong disdain for coffee (they are always offering it for free, “Would you like some coffee”, (ugh) “No thank you.” Why can’t I like coffee? Good news that has changed as well… but that’s a story for another day). I longed to just enjoy the relaxing activity of reading on a quiet morning, a simple tech detox. I wanted something other than tablets and TV as my go-to entertainment. Try as I may, I just couldn’t do it. I could not read for more than a few minutes before my eyes glazed over and I had lost all recollection of what I had just read.

So What Changed??

My husband and I began researching Amazon Kindles for our daughter. She thankfully has a much more passionate love for reading than me. This was, of course, something we wanted to encourage…especially me! We began to check out the kindle because of the ability to have so many books at your disposal in one neat little device. Dirty little secret, as much as I have always hated to read, I do love buying books. I have been forever optimistic that one day I would finally love to read and then I would have all kinds of books ready to go. You can see how having all those printed books could take up a lot of space.)

I had known for a while that I was going to blog and noticed that eBooks were all the rage. I was educating myself about the blogging process, these books finally struck a passionate chord with me and I found myself more interested in reading them. LIGHT-BULB: What if I got a Kindle for myself? Would I use it? There was just something appealing about the convenience. Being the way I am I wasn’t afraid to throw a little money at it if I thought it might be a game changer for me. We bit the bullet and ordered one for my daughter and me.

My Hands Down Favorite Purchase this Year….Kindle

Life changing…that is all I have to say! It sounds ridiculous but it really did open up a whole new world for me. I have countless books on mine now. I do not hesitate to purchase a new one if I come across one that peaks my interest. Sometimes I only have a few minutes to spare but I take those few minutes to dig in and get a little further into whatever I am currently reading. Sometimes I read for minutes and sometimes for hours. It is so easy to carry along when I am traveling or just in my purse if I know I’m going to be waiting somewhere for a while.

Why it worked for me…

If I was to try to isolate one single reason that caused the paradigm shift to start enjoying reading, it would have to be the psychological change. The ease of holding the Kindle was significant. I know that sounds absurd, but for me, I almost felt panicked by the commitment from the physical size of the book. I would start to read and then feel completely overwhelmed by something that daunting. If you’ve been there you will understand. With the Kindle, I can take my reading one page at a time. I pay no attention to where I am in the book. I am actually able to get lost in the reading or story. This was not something I was able to do before; I was constantly distracted by how much I had until I finished the chapter or how much more I had to read to finish the book. This is the #1 reason why the Kindle changed my viewpoint on reading. It turned a hardcore non-reader into someone who is truly excited about having/finding time to read!

As someone who spent so many years avoiding or dreading the act of reading, there was no bigger critic. I spent more hours than I care to admit staring at TV’s, phones, and tablets, I really wish I had found this little treasure years ago!

As my hands down favorite purchase this year it was money well spent!