Why Reading Fiction Daily Is A Mental Health Must

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Read Fiction Daily
- Ch: 2.6 of How To Get Your Sh!t Together -

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies … The man who never reads lives only one.”  – George R.R. Martin

Reading is a healthy form of escapism. If you find a good book, or better yet an author that you connect with, you will have a tool to escape your current situation and draw you into a new one. This allows you to put aside your current woes, stressors and issues, to instead immerse yourself into a new world. True, this world may have challenges of its own, but from the vantage point of the reader, you get to safely experience another life.

When I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed with life, reading provides me with a refreshing break. After reading I am better able to address the problems that I am facing.

Reading isn’t just about escapism.

In part one of How To Get Your Sh!t Together, I emphasised the importance of mindfulness – getting out of your head and into the present moment. Reading fiction does just that, it causes you to be mindful. Unlike television and other forms of passive entertainment, the act of reading requires a degree of focus. You only get the story when you read the words.

Reading forces you to focus on something to the exclusion of other mental phenomena. This can have a very positive effect on your mental state.

Not only do you get to escape into another universe, but by reading about that universe you become more mindful of the present moment and less depressed and anxious.

Beyond these immediate benefits, reading actually changes you. As the quote at the beginning of this chapter suggests, a reader gets to live multiple lives. When reading, you experience what the characters experience, make moral decisions with the characters (or question why they would make those choices) and face the consequences that they face. You learn and grow alongside them.

A very good author will regularly elicit a plethora of emotions from the reader, causing a diverse range of experiences for them. Reading fiction causes you to be exposed to far more than you would in regular life. With this increased experience the reader becomes wiser in real life as through their books, they have seen more of life.

Finally, reading is a great form of relaxation. I often read in bed with a night light as a natural sleeping aid. After 10 to 30 minutes I am well and truly ready for bed. This isn’t to say that the books are boring, but rather the act of reading is itself quite calming. My mind slows down, the body stops moving and relaxes.


“Reading forces you to be quiet in a world that no longer makes place for that.”
 – John Green

 It is important to realise that everyone’s taste in books are going to be different, you may hate something that I love and vice versa. Just read what you want to read. Find something that captures your attention, and go from there. If you find yourself reading a boring or extremely challenging book, quickly move one to something better. There is no shame in putting down a book that you are not connecting with.

In the resource section I have placed a small collection of fiction that I enjoyed. If you are unsure where to start, check out some my favourites and go from there!

Why Not Just Watch The Movie?

While television and movies do provide some of the benefits of escapism, they are very passive and are quite shallow compared to reading a book. Unlike with a movie, you can’t half read the book. You have to be all in. 100% focused on the task at hand.

What’s more, the book is always better. The book puts you inside the minds of the characters, rather than simply showing them to you on a screen. Books can illicit tastes, touches and smells in a way that movies simply cannot. The only way for a movie to show the internal world of a character is through clunky narration, awkward unauthentic dialogue or otherwise through facial expressions and tones of voice. Even if the actor is perfect, you as the watcher may miss some of the tone and nuance of the scene. Not so with a book.

TAKE ACTION

Put this book down and start reading a fiction book. Use this as an excuse to start reading that book that you have been meaning to for years now. If you don’t own it, go to the library and borrow it today. If you don’t have a book that you have wanted to read, choose one in the resource list below and start reading.

Continue to read this book daily for 15 minutes prior to bed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I use an audio book and get the same benefits to my mental health?

A: No. While audio books are amazing tools, one that I highly recommend for anyone that commutes to work, it is just not the same. Like watching a movie, listening to an audio book is too passive to invoke the level of focus and mindfulness of reading.

It is too easy for an audio book listener to lose focus and begin to ruminate. Reading a physical book forces us to hold the paper in our hands, block out all other inputs and engage our imagination.

Q: Can I read non-fiction books and still get the same benefits to my mental health?

A: If it works for you, go for it.

I prefer fiction as not only does it cause mindfulness, but it also emphasises escapism. It can be hard to lose yourself in a factual book about how to grow plants for example. The only exception to this is of course autobiographies, histories, or other works that tell a narrative story of somebody or a group of people. We can get lost in their (real) stories.

Resources (fiction)
Zachary Phillips - Wage Slave
Zachary Phillips - Kink, Volume 1
Andy Weir - The Egg (short story)
Isaac Asimov - The Last Question (short story)
JK Rowling - The Harry Potter Series
Jodi Picoult - My Sister’s Keeper
John Wyndham - The Day Of The Triffids
Neil Gaiman - Other People (short story)
Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist
Mitch Album - The Time Keeper
Orson Scot Card - Ender’s Game
Oscar Wilde - The Picture Of Dorian Grey
Stephen King - The Stand

Summary
Reading fiction promotes mindfulness, escapism, personal growth, and also doubles as a great sleeping remedy. What more could you want?