087: How I read 100+ books in the last year as a work-from-home mom (part 1)
“I’m sleeping better, I feel less stressed, and I’m just generally having a really good time enjoying a hobby—something just for me—for the first time in a long time.”
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About a year ago, I started reading again.
I say “again” because, like so many others I’ve chatted with who have rediscovered their love of books recently, I was an avid reader in my childhood and throughout my youth. But once I entered the workforce, my life was so consumed by my career—and then eventually, my kids—that reading was mostly relegated to soaking up a few best-sellers on the beach each summer.
About a year ago, though, a switch flipped. I can’t pinpoint the shift to any single cause; rather, it was a bunch of things happening at once:
BookTok was a big factor; it really is such a fun, feel-good corner of the internet.
After being a card-carrying member of the Real-Books-Only Club for 30+ years, I finally tried a Kindle—and it wildly increased my reading opportunities.
Time management techniques played a starring role: I made little changes that opened up a whole new world of reading time. (I go into detail on those below.)
There was also the undeniable allure of escapism; perhaps for the first time in my life, it felt absolutely essential to my mental health to completely unplug and disconnect from reality more frequently.
In the past year, I’ve read over 100 books and countless audiobooks. I’m sleeping better, I feel less stressed, and I’m just generally having a really good time enjoying a hobby—something just for me—for the first time in a long time.
While I work part-time from home—as the co-founder of this newsletter, among other things—my primary role is the at-home parent, for lack of a better term, of my two young kids. (Translation: Both my professional work and my leisure activities typically need to happen in the margins of my “free” time, which is limited.)
Below, in the first of a two-part series, I’m sharing nine specific strategies and lifestyle swaps I’ve used to read over 100 books in the last 365 days. Five more will arrive in a secondary installment of this series.
—Kelsey
9 techniques I used to read 100+ books last year
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