how i viewed reading in the past
Growing up, I didn't do much reading as a pastime. Most of the reading i did was in class reading arabic texts. I loved reading in class because i thought i was good at it, i thought i was better than most of my classmates at reading which made me feel good about myself but deep down, I felt that reading in your free time willingly was a strange way of spending time, why would you do that instead of playing football, watching football or arguing about who's better, Messi or Ronaldo ? Barca or Real madrid ? raja or lwydad ? green boys or winners ?
I think my anxiety also played a role in preventing me from picking up reading early in my life. during my childhood, anxiety was at its peak, I wouldn't have stayed still and read a full page let alone multiple ones. Even now when i know what anxiety is and how to deal with it, I still find it difficult to focus fully when reading.
how it became one of my favorite activities now ?
during middle school, my brother started to be obsessed with reading. before that, there wasn't a book in sight but now
there are multiple shelves full of books, thanks to my older brother.
I used to look up to him,
I fell in love with football because of him(and even became better even though it's debatable between us)and I still steal his
clothes to this day.
it is the same with reading, it made him look cool to me, I thought of him as this elite intellectual who's going places
(he got a degree in law and that's one of the reasons why i thought of him like that).
At first, i started reading self-help books in arabic. notably books written by ibrahim elfiky.
his books had titles like: HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE IN 30 DAYS (most self help books are a scam). then, i started reading
different types of books such as islamic books, biographies and novellas.
Now ?
lately, i have been reading almost every day stopping for a few weeks now and then. I prefer to read novels cover-to-cover
and read the parts that interest me in nonfiction books. I prefer reading out loud because i focus better and enjoy the
book more. my current favorite books are: The girl with the dragon tattoo,
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies and the metamorphosis of prime intellect.
Recently, I got into reading blogs, which was a big reason why i made this website.