READING GOALS
At the start of 2021, I set a goal for myself to read 24 books in a year. That was a pretty ambitious goal considering how I only read 7 books in the previous year. But I was determined to push through with my goal. Two books per month seemed attainable. I wanted to read as many books as I could because I wanted 2021 to be a year of learning and going back to my hobby of reading. I wrote a post about how I rediscovered the joy of reading with most of the books I read were done using my phone.
Fast forward to the middle of the year and I was struggling to reach my goal because some books took longer to read. I also had trouble sticking to my reading schedule because I was so busy with my work. On top of it, reading ebooks through my phone proved to be challenging because I keep getting distracted.
A friend of mine suggested I should get an e-reader and that's how the idea was planted in my mind.
CONVINCING MYSELF
The decision to purchase the Kindle took a lot of weeks. It was not in my plan to buy an ebook reader this year and I was not able to include it in my monthly budget. It was difficult to convince myself that I really needed an ebook reader. I knew I could read ebooks on my phone but I also knew that having a separate device for reading meant removing the many distractions accessible on my phone. I've been practicing digital minimalism and that included reducing the time I spent on my phone.
On one particular day, I was in a coffee shop and I saw an old college friend. I waved at her and she approached me. We started talking and I noticed she was carrying a device with her. It was a Kindle! I asked her if I could look at it and I thought it was cute and handy. I asked her about her experience when reading using it and she told me she really enjoyed reading using her Kindle because it was distraction-free. We had the same sentiments about having too many distractions when reading ebooks through a phone. I asked her where she got it and how much. She gave me the link to the online store and I immediately added the item to my cart.
I didn't buy it right away. I read through the comments section multiple times and all of the reviews were good. I told myself that I would buy the Kindle as a gift for myself and to support my goal of reading more books and continuing with learning about personal development.
USING MY HIVE EARNINGS
I've been keeping my Hive earnings and letting it grow for future use. Since purchasing my Kindle was not included in my monthly budget, I decided to use my Hive earnings to pay for my order. It was cash-on-delivery (COD), so I still had time to withdraw my Hive earnings.
The purchase totaled around $100. In the Philippines, that's already a lot of money. For me, that's almost 3 weeks' worth of groceries but since my Hive earnings are considered as a sideline earning, the spending was not too heavy for me.
THE EXCITEMENT
After the order had been placed, I became excited. I ordered a black Amazing Kindle 10th generation and a magnetic cover that automatically puts the device to sleep when closed and wakes it up when opened.
It would take around a week before the Kindle arrived. I became busy with work but I never forgot about my order being delivered in a few days. I remember attending a recent virtual event where one of the speakers talked about the joy of doing your hobbies. She said that hobbies should give you excitement and kilig, a Filipino word that loosely means a feeling of elation or exhilaration caused by an exciting or romantic experience. I was still finishing a book on my phone and I wanted to finish reading it just in time for my Kindle to arrive.
While waiting, I looked at YouTube videos reviewing the device and how to use it. I was also making a shortlist of the first few books I was going to add to my Kindle.
FRUIT OF THE LABOR
It finally arrived and I was so excited to finally open it. Unfortunately, I had to delay the unboxing because there was something urgent I had to attend to at work. At last, I had the time to open the package and I intentionally documented it because I knew I was going to share it here in Hive.
When I first saw the Kindle, I thought it was smaller than I expected. I put on the cover and then set up the device right away. Once it was all done, I saw how it was just the perfect size. The weight was just right and the color of the screen made for easy reading.
This was it. One of the fruits of my labor in Hive, in my hand. I was eager to add books and started reading right away. I charged it during the night and expected the battery to last for weeks as the specs mentioned. The long battery life of the device got me through some restless times after the Super Typhoon hit our place.
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READING AWAY
The first book I added was Grit by Angela Duckworth. It got added to my list of books to read in 2021 because I saw a friend reading a physical copy of it. I initially planned on borrowing it from her but I always forgot to remind her to bring her copy. I ended up putting it on my Kindle and it was the first book I finished. It took me around 4 days to finish it.
I looked at Goodreads for book recommendations and that was when I knew that the Hidden Palace by Hellene Wecker was already out, the sequel to The Golem and the Jinni, one of my favorite fiction books from before. I added it on my Kindle and I was able to finish reading it a day after the Super Typhoon hit our place.
I reread Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach as I spent the first night under our roofless house after the typhoon. It was short and sweet but it helped me occupy my idle times while there was nothing else to do because there was no electricity, no water, and no internet because of the typhoon.
I wanted the next book to be particularly helpful as I faced the challenges of having our house damaged by a typhoon and renting out a new place to stay while our house needed to be repaired. I knew a lot of people had it worse than we had but what happened to us was still terrible. I recently finished reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and although it was not the best book to read after a tragedy, it still helped me deal better with what happened.
I've read 17 books this year which is 7 books shy of my goal. I know with my Kindle, I'll be able to read faster and more books in the next year. I'll set another reading goal and hopefully, I'll be able to hit it by the end of 2022.
That's it! Things are looking better for us here. The place we rented just got power and water back. Some of the materials needed for the house repair have arrived and work has started. There are certain places where I can get stable internet using cellular data. We still need to purchase a lot more materials.
I am expressing my deep gratitude to everyone who showed their support in helping me rebuild our house through your upvotes and tip on my last post. I also thank the people who reached out to the right people here in Hive to help everyone affected by the Super Typhoon. I have yet to determine the total amount needed for the repair of our house but I will set aside a portion of my earnings from my last post to donate to those who were also badly hit by the typhoon.
I'm glad I bought a Kindle because I was able to fill my time while being immobilized by the effects of the typhoon. I'll be posting more book reviews in the future. Be sure to look out for them. See you in the next post. Cheers! 📕
