JC 1010E

As basically everyone knows, I read tons. People are usually pretty shocked to find out how much I read when they ask me. I've thought a lot about what has driven me to read so much. Probably 4 years ago now I may have read a total of 5 books all year so something lead/drove me to want to read. There are probably 3 major events that have driven me to where I am at now. One thing to note, I did read a bit when I was younger. Not a lot, but I grew up encouraged to read.

While I was studying at the University of Utah, I just didn't have a lot of time. I was studying full time and working in my spare time. Almost all reading that I did was purely for educational purposes. I did have one class where we read an incredible large amount (of Russian Literature from the USSR nonetheless) - at the time I felt overwhelmed but I think I would like that class a bit more now. Anyways, there just wasn't much time for outside reading. Once I graduated, I found I had a lot more spare/free time. Reading is definitely what fills it now.

My kindle was really what drove me to read the amount that I do now. I had already started visiting the library on a regular basis when I received my Kindle, but after that I began to read a ton. Probably the main reason is because I'm the type of person that likes to use the things that I have and find it hard to let things sit around unused. While I didn't purchase my Kindle, I wanted to put it to good use. Last year I read 130 books on my Kindle alone and I've read several already this year.

This is the single biggest reason for reading so much. I used to be a huge sports fan. I would watch every sporting event (especially local teams) and get really into them. I was extremely competitive and got extremely emotionally involved. I noticed that this was effecting me and those around me in negative ways (my wife definitely helped bring this to my attention). It would be hard for me to get to sleep at night after a sporting event because I couldn't get over the win or loss. Also, I would have an extremely negative attitude after the team I was hoping would win, lost. I needed something that I could do to relax and not worry about sports as much. Reading was the big thing that took over for me.

Reading has really changed how I relate sports in general. I still cheer for teams, but I don't feel upset or mad when the team I'm cheering for loses. In fact, I can easily turn off the television if it's coming down to the last seconds of a game. I don't watch a lot of the big games because it doesn't matter as much to me anymore. A lot of times I don't just watch a sporting event on TV. I'll read during a game and only check the score every now and them. Reading has been something that has really calmed me as a person and helped me to relax from things that just really aren't that important...I still enjoy watching sports at times and enjoy going to games, but a lot of times I'd rather read.

For me, reading has been a good way to relax and also I've learned a lot of very interesting and fascinating facts as I've gotten into books about history. I definitely find reading far more interesting than tv series and it's a great way to increase my knowledge.