As the master of words, Dr. Seuss once wrote, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Reading is an adventure waiting to be had! Take time to get lost in a book and simultaneously get found in a way you never expected.
While it can be hard at times to schedule in a daily dose of reading, the benefits are worth it. Besides improving your brain power and vocabulary vault, reading can give you emotional and well-being rewards as well! Let’s dive in deeper!
8 Well-Being Tools Found in a Book
Let’s check out the heartwarming reasons to snuggle up with a good book today! You just might develop a hankering to read all day long.
1. Excitement Found in a Book
Did you know having a zest for life is directly related to your satisfaction in life and that such enthusiasm is found more often in teens than in adults? Yes, you tired adult you, you need to fight for that feeling of excitement you used to so easily feel as a young person in high school eager to take on the world and equipped with the energy to do so.
Remember when the Harry Potter series was being released book by book and people’s excitement was palpable? Fans eagerly waited for the next installment of the series that had gripped the world’s imagination and made many discover the joy of reading. Some would count down the days, wait in long lines, and once they had the newest Harry Potter book many would read it all in one day.
Reading can open you up to wanting to read more and to discover books both old and new. Instead of hunting for the best mascara or laundry detergent online, reading can ignite an eagerness to look for books never read. There’s a thrill of “Wow, look what I found” and “I can’t wait to dive into that.”
For seasoned readers, this excitement might be a common occurrence like the annual anticipation of Christmas or a birthday, only experienced more regularly and privately. Every new book opened brings that feeling of “Woohoo, where will reading take me today?!” The excitement of reading opens doors of possibility and behind every new door is a thrilling world that can take you places newly imagined.
Go ahead, add some excitement to your life by popping open a book that you’ll never have to write an essay on or give a book review about, but simply enjoy it for the story it tells, the information you learn, or the joy you feel.
Book suggestion:
Still So Excited!: My Life as a Pointer Sister
2. Conversation Found in a Book
Making good conversation can be hard. What new stories can you share, what interesting facts can you present that will seem important and interesting, what jokes will make everyone laugh but not be offensive or weird?
It can be easy to fall into a rut of talking about the same day-to-day topics especially with someone you live with. Daily duties, work, chores, meals and even the weather can be the overarching themes heard throughout a home.
Even for introverts who usually listen more than speak, books provide great conversation starters. A reader might find themselves eager to share amazement for a fictional story that brought them to tears or taught them a valuable life lesson.
It’s common for a recent finisher of a book to be really moved by that final scene or that revolutionary point and then focus on that moving moment in conversation throughout the day.
Sometimes reading can seem like a lone endeavor, maybe even selfish, but in conversation, one person’s reading can be a gift to someone else. From the power of the written word to the power of the spoken word, the transformational power of the text needn’t end.
Your next amazing conversation can be just one book’s worth of reading away.
Book suggestion:
Conversation Peace (Revised Edition): The Power of Transformed Speech
3. Strength Found in a Book
You know how starts can be great, but endings can be so hard to get to? Like the famed New Year’s resolution gone bad, the diet that stops, or the online course that will be great if ever finished?
Feeling like you are good at something matters. Knowing you were successful can bring on more success and build your confidence and skill set. Sometimes the thing you want most in life is not to add another task to your to-do list, but to finish something, complete anything well and feel strengthened by having finished.
Somewhere between halfway and the end of reading a book, you start to feel it. The finish line of a book. You start to think, “Oh I can make it, I’ve already done more than what I have left to do!” Getting to the end is exciting, an accomplishment, a success. You’ve dedicated time, attention, and intention to that finishing off a book.
Of all the books in the world the one book you’re choosing to read is a constant choice of, “Will I put this down and watch Netflix or will I keep at it?” If the book is awful, then this doesn’t apply, but if it is worthy of precious hours and focus, making it to that final page is such a rush, such a moment of pride, and a choice that was made out of discipline and sometimes sacrifice.
Though not a marathon or a money earning endeavor, finishing a book gives confidence and inner strength of reaching a finish line. Being able to say, “I read that book” and know really, you read all of it, feels like giving yourself the gift of giving your all.
If you’re looking to gain some strength, to discover some freedom even in failure, to prepare yourself for new tasks that lie ahead, all that you’re in need of might just be found in a book you’ve been meaning to pick up and read.
Book suggestion:
[bctt tweet=”Reading all the way to the end of a book is giving yourself the gift of giving your all. #finish” username=”perfectplaying”]
4. Hope Found in a Book
If you’ve ever been depressed, you know that hope is what you long for. Did you know books can help fuel you with hope?
Reading can show you that yes, you can still develop new joys, do something good for yourself, actually see it through, and learn and grow.
Sometimes amidst the hustle and bustle of adult life, one can wonder if our ability to learn ends. Opening up the pages of a book and experiencing the whirling and swirling of new ideas ushering in new hopes and dreams can assure us that we still have brains in our heads and not just feet in our shoes.
Having eyes opened to a fresh idea in a book ignites a desire to become more, discover more, embrace more.
Having hearts opened to glimmers of hope found in a book can spark desires to not give up, willingness to dig in, reason to not quit. The perfect book at the perfect time can give you hope to carry on, hope there will be a way out, hope to make it another day.
Book suggestion:
Hope Heals: A True Story of Overwhelming Loss and an Overcoming Love
5. Renewal Found in a Book
The very act of reading, whatever the words may be, can be a great reprieve. Taking time for reading books can bring you to that comfy chair you usually don’t sit in, bring you to discover how transformative your office can be when leaning back with a book in hand, and make going to bed a true retreat.
With books, you can lounge in the hammock, lay on a blanket in the backyard with puppies, and enjoy the background symphony of birds and come out feeling like a new person.
There is something about being with the words in front of you that makes everything around you more still or at least less worthy of attention than the gripping words on the page.
Though a reader’s mind may be going and my their head nodding along with the truth coming at them from the author, the rest of the body is still and calm. With every sentence, a soul can inhale and exhale and become more steady and more at peace.
Be honest with yourself, do a check-in, and see if you need a day of checking out so you can read a good book and check up on your soul. Sometimes we need no screens, no sounds, just a book in hand, a drink nearby, and a cleared out schedule for at least an hour to read until our hearts feel whole again.
Book suggestion:
Simply Tuesday: Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World
[bctt tweet=”Sometimes we need no screens, no sounds, just a book in hand, and a drink nearby. #reader” username=”perfectplaying”]
6. Curiosity Found in a Book
It might seem natural that being curious would lead a person to read because wanting to know more about anything often involves reading about that something. However one might not think that reading would make a person more curious in general.
The more I read, the more I want to know more about a lot of things. I start thinking how the ways I do things could be done better and wonder about the blind spots I have towards myself and how I can detect possible areas of improvement in my life.
For instance, recently I read about having a growth mindset, and it’s made me think about how I can be a better communicator, and I now want to find and try out new ways of speaking so I have been thinking of studying that and maybe even trying Toastmasters.
Fuel your curiosity for life by opening a book and see what questions get answered as more questions arise.
Book suggestion:
How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character
7. Purpose Found in a Book
Reading can help with getting past addictions, discovering life’s callings, and providing answers to life’s most pressing questions.
Sometimes when we don’t have a specific goal in life, we can waste our minutes, hours, and days watching other people live their lives via reality television or on social media. Instead of filling our heads with images of other people doing their thing, reading fills our minds with possibilities of what we might do with our one precious life.
By reading books more, you might find yourself doing less wandering into the kitchen on a hunt for mindless eating, experiencing a diminishing desire to watch television, and feeling like you have more control over how you spend your time instead of giving in to impulses.
If you are in the throes of finding your life’s purpose, perhaps you should start by finding that next enlightening book to read. Keys to your next steps might be found in a book you’ve been putting off reading.
Book suggestion:
A Dog’s Purpose: A Novel for Humans
8. Connection Found in a Book
Reading can be alone, but not lonely.
Though the bookworm appears to be partaking in an isolated activity, in reality, the reader might be feeling understood, connected, and engaged.
Sure, reading can happen with others and sometimes reading aloud to children, partners, or even to a group in a book club can be quite enjoyable. But, reading doesn’t have to have anyone else involved other than the reader for there to be a feeling of friendship brewing.
Reading gives a person the chance to know and be known, to travel along with someone in a sometimes twisty, turbulent, non-existent world. By reading you don’t have to spill your guts, the author has spilled hers, and they basically look astonishingly the same.
A reader sees hurts and hopes and questions and confusions on the page and sometimes feels shocked in recognizing those feelings as their own.
“How can someone else so get me?” plagues the reader’s mind when they feel they’ve come across an author who really knows them.
“I’ve never told anyone this but what she has written here for the world to see was said in a way my heart agrees with though my mouth would never express.” Wow. How do some authors do that magic anyway?
The connection you’ve silently been pining for could be found in a book if you are just willing to give it a try.
Book suggestion:
Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living
[bctt tweet=”By reading you don’t have to spill your guts, the author spills hers, and they look the same.” username=”perfectplaying”]
If you have a love of reading, this list is just a reminder of what you already know.
For those of us who don’t make time to pick up a book as often as we like, may this list serve as a motivator to get our hands on a book this week. Even reading five minutes a day before bedtime will help lull us to a peaceful slumber full of feel-good emotions giving us a positive start for the next day.
As Dr. Seuss, the author of the first books used to introduce many of us into reading wisely said,
Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.
If you are looking for answers to life’s issues and needs, what you’re looking for is very likely found in a book, yes indeed.
Excited about all the great stuff found in a book? *Pin* this post for times when you need a bookish reminder! Come read along on Playing Perfect’s Pinterest Page for more great reasons to stick your head in a book!
Ready for more reading fun?! Here are must-read books for bloggers!
FREE I Love Reading Printable Pack
Take control of your reading life! Read more and track your reading success!
FREE for a limited time!