Life is too short to waste on mediocre and bad books. Just focus on reading things you'll enjoy and drop the books that aren't worth your time. I use to read loads of books a year but I got burned out, now I just read when I'm in the mood and if I'm enjoying the book.

Just don't force it, IMO. If you don't feel like reading for a week, just don't read that week. You don't need a reading goal if you don't want one, I know I don't have one.

Stay off of social media.

Problem solved.

Read when you want to and stop when you don’t enjoy it.

Get off of tiktok and other social media, especially ones that are primarily dealing with strangers.

>Stay off of social media.

That's pretty solid life advice in general.

Reddit is the only social media I use and even here I only look at 4 or 5 subs.

Same. Unless YouTube counts, but I don't really interact.

I’m in the same boat, if it’s going to be a competition then turn it into a reading challenge with yourself. Last year I had three and for each month I read a book about Ireland or by an Irish author, a novella and a memoir. This year I’m rereading a book I loved from prior to the year 2000, a book by an Asian or Asian diaspora author and a book by a dead female author whose works I’ve never read before. You can definitely use it your advantage in trying to learn about something, someone or some place new, or for your career, or even mental health. That way your adding a productive component to a reading competition.

Yeah, I don’t count Youtube as social media. I just watch and listen but never comment. I don’t watch those Tic Tok copy of “shorts” either.

You're obviously privileged af and already on drugs, SO... better drugs?

​

JK. It sounds like you have a bit of a competitive streak in you, so maybe channel that into a force of good. Get competitive about donating to charity or helping out segments of society less fortunate. It will quench this competitive thirst AND help society. Good luck

I second this so much. I deleted all social media at the height of my depression, what a weight of unnecessary noise lifted of my shoulders. This reddit acc is new and I litterally follow books, bookshelf and I think 4 others book related subs.

>The problem is, i can't stop reading or seeing content about books(since I'm depressed and books it's the only good thing i have besides some silly videogames in my life)

Yes, you can. The books are the good thing, read books. Content about books is what ruins your good thing for you, so don't read the content. (So getting off socials, as the others have said is most likely to be a positive change). Or at least don't read the content you're reading now: find/focus on something healthier, like writing your own reviews, making/engaging with fanart, looking up stuff about history/mythology/the author. You'll need to monitor how you feel and moderate the content accordingly, though.

Studies show time and time again that it depresses people yet "we" all seem to use it. If you don't it's considered weird. It confuses me. Why do I need to see someone's dinner or read their little anecdote about what happened during their phone call? It's absolutely whacky and I don't think it brings people together at all!

I'm not sure if cutting off social media is the solution. I think it will help but I think the big problem is your self esteem right now. Even if you aren't comparing yourself to others, there's gonna be that voice in your head telling you that you can't do anything good.

I think you need to channel more time into looking for work - (which is also totally soul sucking, many places expect way too much (lots of experience even at entry level) or they don't even bother to let you know it you are hired or they ask ridiculous interview questions.) I think part of your issue is that you feel bad about yourself right now.

The other thing is maybe getting some fresh air more, look after yourself, make sure you drink water and go on walks.

If you do want to stay on social media try looking at other things. Tell yourself you'll allow X amount of time looking at reading content, and the rest you can look at recipes or other categories.

Read what you actually want to read. Get rid of the notion of "having to" and "essential read" and decide for yourself what YOU like, not what you think you have to read.

Perhaps you need to rethink your reading goals. How about instead of having a goal that encourages you to read as quickly as possible, you give yourself a period of time when you can only read one book. Pick the book, look at the page count, divide by ten, and that is the number of days where you can read nothing else, but only that book. If you finish the book well before the deadline, you read it again, perhaps this time taking notes about the books contents and structure, and questions you have about what the author meant or overlooked. By the time you're finished you can be satisfied that you gave it all the time and attention it deserves, detached from any desire to compete with others on how many are dead, however superficially.

I am sorry you feel this way. And your english is perfectly fine. What I can suggest is that you treat this with your therapist as it is becoming an addiction and this behavior will most likely keep coming with almost everything you try. Good thing is: you caught it!

As other say: you could channel it into something different and positive. Maybe a sport outside, walking, photography… something to balance it. Or find a remote spot outside to read. You get fresh air, you get some movement and you get to read for a bit. Maybe time your daily readings. The best you can do to deal with all the stress of daily life is plan your day and stick to a nice and healthy routine. Get x hours of reading, x hours of this or that, anything important for you right now. Check weekly: how was my week planning? What should I change next week? And repeat :)

Have you checked videos and books from Dr Stepehen Ilardi? I heard a Masterclass from him in my Calm app and it really resonated with me and helped me focus on the important things.

So so true, I'd come away from posting on my thankfully deleted instagram account with infinitely more anxiety, sense of worthlessness or not being good enough than when I opened the page. Would people like the pic I posted? if not, what did I do wrong, maybe I'm just not photogenic, what about the blue evil eye emoji people say you should post to ward of jealousy and envy, utter nonsense but at the time felt key to a good selfie or whatever else. It's a toss up between instagram or tick tock for the most psychologically damaging platforms imho.

Delete tiktok, delete instagram. If you keep in touch with people on instagram, then just unfollow book-related stuff.

This will probably help with your general situation as well, not only this specific unhealthy behaviour.

I'm sort of the same. In that I'm retired and what to do with myself now. I've spent a life time buying and reading books. Books are the great get away from the struggles in life. I have opened and sponsor a Little Free Library. What that has done for me is focused my life in part to sharing books with the community. My suggestion to you personally is to expand your love for books, and the thing you are good at into a profession type of reference for your community. You can open your own LFL, still enjoy social media in the context of using it to be a part of a book, video game community while researching good books to supply your LFL. Its a library, so books, video games, dvd movies, cd music all can be offered.

In what way does their post imply they're "obviously privileged af"

I don’t mean to assume. Sorry. Just… not working, and not asking questions about employment? Just worried about feeling bad about losing a reader race that doesn’t exist? Kinda 1st world problemesque sounding.

I see where you're coming from with that :) but it also sounds like they're going through a bit of mental health crisis with how much medication they're on. They could be focusing on things in their life outside their career to help improve their situation. The things that make you happy and value life shouldn't come entirely from your work. But it couldn't hurt to give it more attention ;)

Dude, thanks for taking the time to hear me. I totally came off bitchy and I apologize. oops

Yeah good point. I guess I was trying to shock and awe her out of a navel-gazing loop and honestly, my advice was hard won. The worst, hardest, deepest trenches of my own suffering were allayed with the simple trick of turning all that energy outward. Help others.

And that was my (failed) attempt of a post. Hope OP reads this and forgives. I meant it all in a good way. Good luck for reals, all of us ✌️

Read what you want, when you want. Don't set a goal like x number of books a year/week/month. Recognize that other forms of media have value too. Take a break after books to think on them. Put the book down and spend sometime outside or going to a museum or whatever you like too.

Can I put this bluntly and be harsh? The first step is realising that Booktok / Booktube is full of grown-ups stuck in immature literature that is pushed on self-proclaimed bookworms, sponsored by publishers. They all read the same books, and they don't develop their own taste. I know this sounds insulting to some people but it's true. It isn't a productive environment for people who suffer from mental problems.

The only reading competition I have is with myself. There are hundreds of books on my reading list, every week it becomes longer, and I know I can never read them all.

Get off social media and look for friends who share your interest in reading. Read the same book for example, at a slow pace, talk about it, discuss it. Meet up for a coffee and to talk about the books.

Edit: I know that it is to be extremely depressed, I've been there (maybe I still am...). Get off those social media sites and try connect with people about reading in different ways. Read a book in the library, maybe someone will start a conversation.

You're a good person ❤️

I deal with this too. My therapist has instructed me to stay off of apps that will compare yourself to others with this, same with apps that track your "progress" like Goodreads and other book apps

Don’t set reading goals. I love reading and found when I started participating in the annual reading challenge on Goodreads, a lot of the joy got taken away from reading. I found myself purposefully choosing short books and rushing through books quicker than I should have just to get my reading stats up. As soon as I stopped joining the reading challenge I found myself enjoying books a lot more.

Realize that it's just incomparable. It's not that there isn't a competition—a competition doesn't even make sense.

Take for instance: one person reads the Twilight series. In the same time, a second person reads the Iliad twice. Who “won”? The Twilight reader because they read three books, while the Iliad reader only read one? Or is it the Iliad reader, because they read a book that has arguably more “value” from a cultural standpoint? Is it the Twilight reader because they read more words? or is it the Iliad reader, because having read the book twice, they understand the words better?

Really, the only thing that truly matters is the enjoyment each reader got out of the experience. And that's not comparable. There's really no way to quantify or compare it (so long as you drop books that don't interest you, and don't force yourself to finish them regardless).

If you're still struggling, you can do what I do and read mostly classics. That way you can tell yourself that, even if other people might be reading more and “beating you” in terms of quantity, you're still outdoing them in terms of quality.