Climbing To The Peak Of Your Reading List Is No Easy Feat
By: Laura Gulbranson
Tags: Writing, Creativity, Social Media, Books, Instagram

#ThatBookstagrammerLife

We treat our reading lists like conquests. Look at Instagram (or don’t… don’t open up Pandora’s box and the conundrum of book FOMO) and you’ll see bookstagrammers highlight their pristine library bookshelves and stories that seem like they haven’t been opened yet.

They post day-to-day, making you wonder how it is possible for them to get through a new book every day.

Perhaps there are bookstagrammers that are like us… who are addicted to admiring books from a distance, without making the climb into the depths of a book and to the top of the mountain. Yet, we rarely make the ascent to the top of our reading lists. We continue to pile more on the mountain when we’ve only just begun to open up to the first page of the first book on the list.

If we do get through that first book, as we go up, we uncover another book. We stop there. Maybe read for a little while. Then the world beckons us to come down. We never quite reach the mountain top. At the most, we get halfway there.

The bookstagrammer life. The life that’s advertised: to read books all day, every day with endless cups of coffee, and hot cocoa ,and fuzzy sweaters, and a middle class house I can possibly afford in 100 years from now (no — this is not bitterness — I just calculated it in my mind).

What’s funny, is that I know that lifestyle is very possible. It’s very possible for all of us if we really wanted it…

But would it truly add value to your life?

Is buying a nice house just so it’s a nice backdrop to your Instagram stories going to fill the bouts of yearning that fills your heart every now and then?

Do you really need endless cups of coffee (maybe)?

I write this not to shame people or create a revolt against the Instagram community.

I think that there are a lot of people who use Instagram for good. There are so many brands and causes that actually use Instagram in a way that meaningful connects and engages their followers.

There are also many bookstagrammers who add value, too.

But at a certain point, we have to draw a line.

We have to NOT enmesh our reading list with someone else’s bookstagram reading list just because it’s hip and trending. That goes for our lives as well.

Some of us simply aren’t called to that Instagrammer type of life.

We have obligations to fulfill at the current moment — whether that be to our families or paying bills.

Living the life you were meant to live doesn’t have to be Instagram-worthy. It just needs to be yours.

Climbing Up The Reading List

Before my 30-day writing challenge (this is day 7), I thought I’d already be on my fourth book by now… I wish I had a success story for you guys, but I haven’t even finished one.

I tried to juggle 10 different books and became a master of finishing none.

There’s a problem in our society…

We’re disillusioned by the idea that multi-tasking is the way to go.

But it’s not.

You just need to focus on one:

One skill.

One passion.

One person.

One book.

One everything.

There is power in the One (like Neo from the Matrix).

There’s something sacred about reading a book, having your own private journal… and letting that secret stick between you and your book

Okay… that’s two… but the book is still considered just one.

Dedicating your time to just one book at a time is special — it’s like a secret you share with an intimate friend or a stranger you may never see again. It’s like unraveling a mystery which doesn’t have to be revealed to the whole world. That’s the allure of a mystery.

As of right now, I have a mountain of books scattered on reading lists written in various journals. My desk is a mess — a mix of the props I use before I teach my next class online — lotion, a candle, a dinosaur (yes…), my French study books, and various pens for my story journal. And the books… they are piled up on another desk as well as underneath. I haven’t read them all.

My desk doesn’t look like this every day (just most days).

Is it Instagram-worthy? Unless I want to advertise that I am a slob. And I’m sure there’s even a hashtag for that.

But most of the time, life isn’t always a picture-perfect, polaroid-filtered Instagram photo.

Life doesn’t have to be.

Life doesn’t have to be anything except yours. You’ll reach the peak of the mountain on your own time. Don’t rush it for the world.

With love. ❤