The 6 Rewards of Reading
Of course, the rewards of reading extend far past 6 possibilities, but these are the specific rewards that I believe stand out amongst the rest. Besides, if I was to flesh every single one out here and now I wouldn’t possibly have time for anything else. There have been a great many ways in which reading has helped people with their lives. I have lost count how many times reading one book or another has helped me connect with others, advance my life, or simply prevent me from making an ignorant decision. If approached in the right manner, reading can enhance your discipline, knowledge, wisdom, empathy, improve your communication skills, and help you maintain your mental health.
Discipline
Even though I was born into the Internet age, the boom was too early for me to be sucked into the social media blackhole where your attention span goes to die. This, in combination with my mother teaching me to read English and learn to love it gave me the space necessary to hone my focus on one task at a time. To be able to sit for hours on end and just read, eventually not worrying about when this chapter ends, and when does the next one begin? This uninterrupted flow of consciousness was the beginning of my discipline’s development. I firmly believe that that focused reading at the end of each day contributed to me becoming a disciplined and organized individual. Discipline equals freedom, as veteran Navy Seal Jocko Willink expresses in his book, and constantly espouses on his podcast. Reading is one of the major tools that has allowed me to start to build the life I want for myself, to form my own personal freedom.
Knowledge
I started to quickly understand as a young teen that my knowledge of certain topics (i.e. history) had gradually, but greatly added up compared to my peers. It is impossible for a modern school system to teach its students everything (and an even harder task when its main purpose is not to teach young people how to learn and think critically, but to follow orders – however that’s a topic for another essay). Having accumulated this extraneous knowledge over the course of many years I inadvertently opened several doors for myself, because I had the power to act on information that others did not know.
Wisdom
When you open up a book you agree with the author to take you on an adventure. It is not your choice, when the story picks up, when choices are made or discarded, or when it finally ends. However, this gives you the opportunity of living more lives than just your own. It compresses the wisdom of many men and women who have lived harder, more dangerous, or fill in the ____, lives compared to us. This lets us learn from their follies and successes, and therefore act accordingly.
Empathy
Before children reach a certain age, it is hard for them to understand that other people have diverging thoughts from themselves. This is part of the concept of Theory of Mind in psychology. Our perceptions do become more malleable with age, but this malleability may only be maintained if one does not stay stagnant with one’s thoughts. Books can be some of the first experiences that a child can use to understand that their lives are not separated from others, that people are interconnected with each other. Reading gives them the initial opportunity to understand that people live in a variety of ways, whether through one’s volition or not, and that they lived differently in past ages. However, with time, they will also realize that even though people are different, they are still all very much the same. This is the beginning of empathy. Given our habit of putting ourselves into the protagonist’s shoes (and try our best to fill in the villain’s too) we can easily understand the trials and tribulations that they must endure throughout their story. This translates to feeling empathy for people in the real world as well.
Comprehension & Communication Skills
Perhaps the most obvious benefit of my reading experience has been my reading comprehension, writing and other communication skills. Over a period of countless books, I developed the muscle in my brain needed to pick up on the most important information in a text and make connections between the concepts. Apart from allowing me to read quickly, this has been an important skill for research work as well as my university studies where I must separate the wheat from the chaff quickly and efficiently to succeed. Reading has been shown to help people expand their vocabularies, and I have no doubt that doing so has helped me with my vocabulary in Russian, French, and English. Consequently, it has also allowed me to express myself more clearly through the written and spoken word. Just like a chess master needs to see thousands upon thousands of different chess positions in multiple manners, a writer must understand the profession she decided to lead by reading as much as she can. And if you are not a writer this still applies to you, you still need to communicate with those around you to survive and communicate exceptionally well to thrive.
Mental Health
Lastly, but maybe most importantly, reading has helped me stay sane. Engaging with a book is still a great pleasure of mine after all these years, and it is a comfort during difficult times. It works as a sort of meditation once I take the time to sit down and delve deep enough; I’m immersed in the story and am not thinking about my own troubles. It allows me to turn off my mind from the constant conversation that seems to pervade my thoughts, yet still be lucid, and conscious. If this is done in the evening or early morning this effect is even more potent – these are periods when one can focus, when one is not distracted by worldly responsibilities or other people. In addition to all this, a good book offers a respite from screens and sounds, the only movie playing is the one you’re immersed in, the one you create in your mind with the author’s guidance. In a time when most people are occupied by their phones it is ever more important to start the shut off process leading up to proper sleep. Screen time, and other triggers that delay melatonin release delay this sleep. Therefore, books can be used to better one’s sleep hygiene, in turn leading to better sleep and more stable mental health.
Conclusion
I’m not here to convince you to read. Read because you truly want to read, in an intrinsic fashion. Or start to read and continue to read until you begin to feel that way. That way it won’t be a chore anymore, and the side benefits that I outline here will begin to accrue before you even know it.
Take reading seriously, and it will treat you in kind.
Notes:
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