Kat with a K: No more Reading Challenges

January 27, 2007

No more Reading Challenges

I've been doing a lot of thinking recently (which you may have figured, since I certainly haven't been posting), and I've realized, with the help of some friends, that one of the reasons why I feel so tired and and run down all the time is because I schedule and plan and make lists for everything, including my so-called "free" time. As a result, I never actually have any downtime. The semester starts next week, and I'm already feeling stressed, so something has to go. So I'm pulling out of the various reading challenges I've signed up for. I'll keep the lists, since I really do want to read all those books. Just not right now. They all sounded very appealing on the day(s) I came up with the lists, but too much of the time, they're not what fits my reading mood, and so they just feel like homework. The especially frustrating thing is that recently, I've been just wanting to read read read - just not those books. (I've been wanting British police procedurals, contemporary literary fiction, and Latin American poetry, in fact.)

And yes, this theoretically means I'll have time to post more and keep up better with the UFO challenge administation stuff.

Posted by Kat at January 27, 2007 07:37 AM

Comments

Yay for seeing through the "shoulds" to the wisdom of enjoying life in a new way. Quality, not quantity (of anything) really does feel better!

Posted by: Nita at January 27, 2007 11:29 AM

Sounds like a plan....

????Scheduled free time, OMG!!!!!

Posted by: maureen at January 27, 2007 11:33 AM

I think that's one of the less desirable side effects of blogging - getting sucked into all these alongs and challenges. I'm trying to resist the knitting obligation ones, but so far the Reading Challenges are helping me get stuff either off my shelves and gone, or actually read. But if I was in school? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be participating - I think school provides enough "required reading."

Dewey pictures!! Please?

Posted by: Chris at January 27, 2007 12:02 PM

Don't let yourself get too stressed out. This stuff is supposed to be fun. :)

Posted by: Arleta at January 27, 2007 12:59 PM

Good for you! It's your life, do with it what makes you happiest. Reading, unless it is required for a class, should be all about fun, whatever that happens to mean at the time you decide which book to read.

Posted by: kmkat at January 27, 2007 02:15 PM

I think that's a great idea!

"And yes, this theoretically means I'll have time to post more and keep up better with the UFO challenge administation stuff."

If you were over-booked in the first place doesn't it mean that you shouldn't be doing something to fill in the gap that you made in your schedule?? :-)

Posted by: Kristy at January 27, 2007 03:13 PM

I love the reading challenges, and the KAL's, but I can't even pick out clothes the night before that I'll wear the next day.

If it's stressing you, it's definitely something to set aside. Reading has always been fun. Once it hits a list? It seems like homework.

Posted by: Carrie K at January 27, 2007 06:34 PM

Good on you for making up your mind to drop the reading challenges! I am a firm believer in the serendipity of book selections - you've just got to go with what your gut instinct tells you you're in the mood for!

Posted by: Meg at January 28, 2007 05:37 PM