Stop reading your books!

I often come across posts on social media about how we must always read. I'm a member of Goodreads.com and I participate in the annual reading challenge. The first year, I read 46 out of 45; the following year I read 31 out of 30 books. This year I'm 5 books behind my original goal of 35 books and I don't believe I will exceed my goal as I have in the previous two years.

The reason for this is that I don't agree with all these posts which say reading by itself is important. I share the enthusiasm for reading, I share the recognition of its importance as an alternative to television, movies, and video games. I even believe in its importance as a break away from sports. I do believe in its medium.

What I don't agree with is the stress that you must always be reading. There's a balance. You can't always be reading novels, or always be reading non-fiction. Reading a business magazine or a sports magazine (or a newspaper for that matter) is just as important every once in a while. In the same way, watching television is important and works the same way as reading- you can read a half hour documentary which will impact your life for the better more than reading a poorly written novella which has no real meaning or substance. It's all in its quality.

Not reading can strengthen the reading experience; for what is reading if it doesn't relate to life? And how can you relate to a novel if you have not experience life itself? Without having to deal with the differences in people's morals and etiquette, I could never have fully understood Camus' The Stranger. Five years ago, his protagonist would have come off to me as detached and unfeeling as he has to his fellow characters. One could not deeply feel the need for love in any of Shakespeare's plays were it not for experiencing the struggle that the real bond gives birth to.  One could not understand Seneca's emphasis on living a quality life in his On the Shortness of Life if they did not at one point ponder their goals in life- and one cannot have goals in life without the trials of figuring out what one wants and does not want. One cannot relate to Tolstoy's non-fiction without the desire and struggle of wanting to know God, not his fiction without experiencing a distaste of war.

Without life experience, all these things are just floating ideals and theories which go on unimplemented- for they are tools which cause you to reflect and perfect your life after these experiences, in order to enrich further experiences. What is learning Tolstoy without actually pursuing the alleviation of poverty and the end of war? What is reading Seneca without bettering the time you spend each day? What is reading Shakespeare or Camus without understanding the similarities and differences in each other during daily interaction?  Their words are then made useless, impotent, withering in the floods of thought and droughts of action within our minds.

So don't read. Stop! Put down your book and go out and play, interact. Face struggles, discover your ideals, experience joy! Then return to your books and reflect, only to go out and live again.