Discovering Life’s Lessons Through the Pages of 68 Books in 2023
Reading has again proven to be invaluable
I read 68 books in 2023. Not only is that a lot of physical pages to turn, but a lot of content to digest. It would be strange if I didn’t learn anything from the process.
Usually, every year I write about the best books I read and why. But I’ve not done that this year because I’ve mentioned them a lot already in various stories.
Instead, I’m going to write about the lessons I’ve learned from being such a vivacious reader and how I can utilise them in 2024.
Reading is about escapism, entertainment and sheer enjoyment, but making it a prominent feature of our lives, can also teach us important lessons about how we want to live going forward.
This is what happened to me in 2023. I read and read and read. I fell in love, had my heart broken, and forced myself to think differently. But I also learnt a lot of useful lessons from making it such a staple in my life.
Lesson 1: Never be afraid to try someting new
Up until last year, I had never read an adult fantasy book. As a teenager, I was obsessed with vampire romances and Cassandra Clare, but as an adult, I had always pushed the genre to one side and didn’t believe it would ever be for me.
Instead, I’d read literary or historical fiction which often dealt with the heavy topics of real life in the present or the past. I can see why I did, because it was what I enjoyed reading and it was what I was used to. Hindsight is a beautiful thing, but I wish I had come out of my reading comfort zone sooner.
Out of the 68 books I read in 2023, 13 of them were adult fantasy including the likes of Sarah J Maas, Hannah Kaner and Ava Reid.
I had a fantastic time reading these books and ended up discovering a whole new genre I had neglected. After only sticking to fiction for so long, it has quickly dawned on me that I have a lot of catching up to do. But that’s good, as it fills me with so much excitement.
My broader lesson from this experience and from reading so much in 2023 is this: never be afraid to try something new.
It’s something that’s often said over and over, but one we tend to ignore as adults. It’s so much easier to stick with what we know because it’s comfortable, but if we always do that we’ll never grow as people.
Growth is important in all aspects of our lives, but to do so, you have to take a chance and try new things. Simply not doing so means we only ever do a disservice to ourselves.
Lesson 2: Always make time for activities you enjoy
We live in a society that broadly fetishises hustle culture. This, combined with the magnifying effect of social media makes people place more value on work, rather than play.
Because if we work harder and for longer, it may result in more gains (usually financial.)
But the sad truth is, we already spend most of our lives working. Those of us who are currently in our 20s will not be reaching retirement age until their late 60s or early 70s at least.
Work is a given. We have to work to live, and filling our lives with more work is counterproductive.
Therefore, we should be making time to prioritise hobbies and do activities we enjoy. If we fill every spare moment with trying to be productive, or the false lures of self-improvement, we won’t have much to smile about.
I’ve always been a reader, but I’ve certainly read less some years and more than others. 2023 was the year I really read and that’s because I made time for it.
I got up earlier than I needed to prioritise reading before work. I made sure to take a book everywhere I went in case I found the time to read whilst travelling or on the go. I forced myself to stay off my phone on work lunch breaks and read instead. I read in the evenings rather than watching TV series.
In short, in 2023, I made sure to prioritise reading and it brought me so much joy. It made me relax, and explore new worlds and ideas, but honestly, it made me feel at peace.
The world is an overwhelming place, and to exist in it can be scary. I’m not afraid to admit that most of the time I’m worrying about some big world event beyond my control.
But reading quietens this for me. By getting through so many books this year, I’ve not only realised this but also realised the importance of making the time to do things you enjoy.
Life isn’t solely about work and self-improvement, but finding activities you love that fill you with joy and excitement.
Lesson 3: If you don’t like something find the strength to stop
Life is a weird thing. Too often, humans are fickle and we go through phases in our lives.
But these phases can sometimes go on for too long. It’s easy to stick with what we know, and the job we’ve been comfortable in for years but not necessarily happy with because the thought of starting again somewhere new is scary.
We often hold onto friendships or relationships that aren’t good for us because we have a fear of the unknown, or being lonely.
We focus on the short-term immediacy of something, rather than what we’re going to feel in the long term. This is partly why it’s so hard to stop something even when it’s not bringing us joy.
It is so easy to lie to ourselves because you only have to convince one person. And when you tell yourself something over and over it’s easy to tell ourselves we’re happy because we feel comfortable.
In 2023 there were many books I started and gave up on. I became a serial DNF’er (DNF = did not finish) and I’m proud of it.
There are more books out there than I will have time alive on this earth to read. Part of the task of being a reader is sorting through everything and deciding what it is you’d like to read.
And even then you can get it wrong. Some books may sound good on paper, but once you get going it’s possible to realise they aren’t for you.
Maybe the comfortable thing would be to keep going and finish the book because you started it. The harder thing is to stop midway through and admit defeat. But in the long term, it will make you happier as you can go on to read something you enjoy.
I have no time to be ploughing through books I’m not enjoying. There’s far too much out there for me to read as it is. One book may suit one person, and be totally unreadable for the next. That’s part of the diversity and beauty of reading.
But the process of DNF’ing should be applied to real life. If something is bringing you more pain and annoyance than happiness, you must find the strength to stop. Remember that comfort and convenience don’t always equate to happiness, and it pays to think about the long term.
Lesson 4: Nothing is ever easy but most things worth it aren’t
If you had asked ten-year-old me what she thought her life would be like at 26 it would be the opposite to what it is now.
The younger version of me thought by this age I’d have a house, be driving around in a nice car, and probably be in the job of my dreams and have several books published.
I have achieved none of those things yet, but I’ve come to terms with this in the past few years. As a society, we place a lot of pressure on achieving certain life milestones by a certain age, and these don’t take into consideration the barriers that are naturally in place.
Where I live, at least, the average age of somebody owning their own home is 32. Granted that’s only six years away, but it does put things into perspective.
It’s easier to focus on the things we haven’t achieved, rather than the goals we have. It can warp our sense of reality and self-worth. Over the years, I have let it get me down. But now, I realise there’s no point.
Nothing in life comes easily, and we all have to embark on a journey to get where we need to be. These journeys may be a different length for everyone, and we don’t have to have everything achieved by our mid-twenties as it’s too unrealistic. Most societies aren’t set up to make this easy for everyone.
Instead, it’s about taking it day by day and realising that life is hard and we don’t have to be where we want to be immediately.
But how did this lesson spring to mind from reading lots in 2023?
Well, I decided last year to take active steps to read more nonfiction. As a genre, this is far harder for me to read than fiction, as it requires more concentration and brain power. It takes me a lot more effort to get through a history book rather than a fantasy read.
That doesn’t make one more valuable than another, but it made me realise that sometimes things are worth the effort and nothing worthwhile is ever easy. I learned so much about prehistory, society and people this year.
These may have been harder reads because they required more time, thought and patience, but it was worth it in the end.
Final thoughts
To summarise, I read a hell of a lot in 2023. I got through some amazing books, discovered a whole new genre I loved and explored many new authors. It’s been great. But making reading such a prominent feature of my life has made me learn four important lessons.
To recap, these are:
- Don’t be afraid to try something new
- Hobbies and self care are important
- Life is too short to carry on with things that don’t bring you joy
- The journey might be long but it’s worth it in the end
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