Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: Read or Clean? Read or Bake? Read or Make Dinner? What would be your choice?
Well, my first thought was that obviously I would rather read than do any of those things! But…sometimes bathrooms get dirty (on a fairly predictable schedule) and I’m quite the stickler for regular meals. So while, in a perfect world without responsibilities, I’d rather read than do most things, in this world I suppose I do actually clean or make dinner instead of reading on a very regular basis. I only bake once a year at Christmas.
Setting aside the responsibility question, there are some other, more challenging competitors for my reading time. Read or watch TV? In theory read, but that doesn’t always bear out. Read or work on my novel? Work on my novel–unless I’m too drained, and then reading takes less energy. Read or blog? Sorry, friends, I read more than I blog. Read or eat lunch with someone on a workday? Reading is my midday recharge, every day I can possibly manage it (95% of the time). Read or go to church? I like lazy Sunday mornings, but I’m at church every weekend, and I can’t always make it Saturday night. Read or see my family, boyfriend, or friends? People first–until my introvert self has had enough and I have to go home and read to recharge.
What competes for your reading time? What wins out?
I read and do a lot of things at the same time because of audiobooks. Sometimes it’s as simple as listening to the book and playing a mindless game on my phone. My brain gets easily distracted from things like reading, so I can’t sit and read for too long. But if I set that wandering portion of my brain on a task that doesn’t take too much brain power, I can keep that part of the brain busy while giving my attention to the book. I do the same thing in meetings at work, too.
But you want to know what wins out over reading most of the time. Internet loafing. 😉
I’d rather read than do most things, unless I’m super-up-against-a-deadline. I’d rather write than read, though. I’d mostly rather read than cook, although eating rather than reading is why I have too many snacks.
And now, back to my book 🙂
Similar to you, TV, cooking, cleaning, blogging and church compete with reading for my time. I also have a weekly dance class and I am currently taking a course. After all that often sleep wins out over reading too 😀
Good post. I’m with you on most choices, including reading during lunch. Sometimes I have to work through lunch, so I miss the reading time, but otherwise, I’d rather have that time for reading than use it for lunch with coworkers, at least on a daily basis.