How Reading Fiction Renewed My Love For Reading And
Changed My Life
Without even planning it, I went through a
personal development experiment where I read nothing but fiction books
for one month.
This is coming from the
ultimate
reader of strictly non fiction books. For two
years, I lived by the famous quote by Zig Ziglar...
"
When I get all of the
truth, then I'll start reading fiction."
If you are like I was, and are a very loyal supporter of non fiction
books, then you may find this article enlightening...
How It Was Started
It began after watching the movie
Twilight.
A story about teenage vampires. The movie is based on the first story
of a four book saga. After watching this film, I knew there was no way that I could wait for the
next movie to come out, so I immediately picked up a copy of the next
three books in the series.
On top of that, I saw a trailer for
Angels And Demons.
The prequel movie to a great book I had read few years ago called
The
Da Vinci Code
. Both
excellent stories that I highly recommend you check out. Anyways...
I
picked up the book Angels And Demons as well because I find
movies that are based on books ten times more enjoyable if you've read
the book first.
So from going to see one movie, it inspired me to buy four
books that I immediately wanted to start reading. And since I didn't
have any non fiction books I was desperate to get started on, I decided
to give this "fiction" thing a shot.
Why Read Fiction?
Before I started reading these books, I'll admit that I was in a
reading funk. I wasn't reading nearly as often as I had been in the
past.
The books that I was reading were OK.
Cracking
Creativity
is what
ultimately gave me the idea to start doing
personal development experiments.
It's a very good book and is definitely my favorite idea book of all time.
But something was missing. And I wasn't quite sure what it was.
After taking a month off from personal development books to start
reading fiction, I figured out what was missing. And it was
passion. While reading personal development books used to light my
brain on fire with inspiration, they simply weren't doing that for me
anymore.
Yet, by reading these fiction books, I found myself eager to tear
through the pages to find out what was happening next.
Is Bella going to become a vampire? Is Edward going to die? Will the
world be destroyed by antimatter?
I didn't know. But these great fiction stories made me flip page after
page to find out.
What Reading Fiction Showed Me
Reading fiction showed me a lot of things about personal development
and myself. And not just the fact that I would really
love to become a
vampire!
First, it showed me that too much of anything is a bad thing. No matter
what it is. Even though I'm an avid fan of non fiction books, reading a
good fiction book every now and then is not only fun, but also necessary.
It opens your mind to a whole new place where things aren't like
your every day world. It also gives you that childlike mindset where
anything is possible.
The second thing that reading fiction books did was renew my love for
reading. While reading was starting to become a chore, I relearned just
how enjoyable reading can actually be. I learned that reading is
usually
ten times better
than watching television.
After finishing one of my books, I asked myself when the last time
watching a movie or television had me this excited and moved by a
story. I decided the last time that came close was when I watched
Schindler's
List, and that had been a long time ago!
So reading fiction showed me the amazing power that reading can have on
you.
Where I Will Go From Here
Let's not get carried away, I still love reading personal development
books. That trait will last me a lifetime because the subject of personal development
lasts a lifetime.
But I've learned that you need to try new and different things occasionally.
From a reading perspective, I know I will now be much more likely to
pick up a difficult non fiction book such as Mein
Kampf
, because of my willingness to try new things with fiction reading.
I'm definitely going to add the occasional fiction book to my reading
list from time to time. And some day might have the majority
of the books that
I read be fiction. For now though, I would say that probably every
third or fourth book that I read will be of the fiction variety.
If you are like I was, or Zig Ziglar, who believe that non fiction is
the only thing worth reading then I strongly consider that you
reconsider your thinking. Fiction books are a great form of
entertainment and is a hundred times better than slaving yourself
through television.
Grab a great fiction story, there are plenty of them out there, and
find out for yourself just how rewarding a great story can be.
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