Confessions of a late bloomer

November 10

Throughout my life, I’ve come to various moments where I had to admit I was wrong or stubborn. Beliefs like flossing isn’t important, going to bed early is lame, reading is boring, studying is pointless, I’ll never have to understand the economy, etc.

As young people, we’re drilled with “you must”, “you should”, “you have to”, “that’s illegal”: We must drink water, we must floss, we should read, we should exercise.

Or worse, the things that we shouldn’t do. We shouldn’t eat an entire frozen pizza like it’s a piece of toast; we shouldn’t procrastinate; we shouldn’t drive 20 below the speed limit; we shouldn’t drink water only from a Camelbak; you know… universal experiences like that.

Certain habits die on their own or are squashed by parents or law enforcement officers, but others take more time or discipline.

For example, I do drive at the speed limit now (sorry, officer), I cut my pizza into slices, and my mom told me I wasn’t allowed to drink from her Camelbak anymore.

And after years of defying my dentists’ pleas to floss and my teachers' encouragement for literacy, I finally caved.

It turns out that dentists don’t think it’s very funny to answer, “When was the last time you flossed?” with, “You were there.”

So, yes, I floss now. I even floss every night. What’s worse is I like it. Flossing is, dare I say, an important part of my routine now.

There’s a rumor that it takes around 21 days to build a habit. Well, how about 23 years?

As for reading… I do love to read. I often wished I were the bookworm type who could devour a book a week.

In high school, I was convinced I was dyslexic. Lo and behold, I am not dyslexic, but I do require reading glasses!

Yet, my reading slump remained uncured. Sure, I read a book now and then, but it was likely one or maybe two a year. I felt unattached to the narratives and characters, no matter what genre of book I threw myself into.

When I got to college and started my degree in journalism, my professors put a huge emphasis on the importance of reading and the extent to which it could improve my writing skills. Each time they told me, I felt a twinge of dread.

I had no desire to read or to become a reader. People told me that by reading, I could pick up writing styles from other authors. Perhaps a roadblock for me during this time is that many books I was reading in high school and in college were assigned for classes, so I didn’t connect with the authors as much. Sure, I respect Mary Shelly as much as the next girl, but I’m not sure Shelly’s prose is where my heart lies.

In January 2024, I was halfway through studying abroad in Paris. I had quite a bit of time on my hands, as my social life was not very… how you say.. existent. That year I also set my New Year’s resolution to read 10 books. This was a stretch for me, but I felt up to the challenge. Spoiler alert: I completed it! Admittedly, a chunk of my book intake came from when I contracted COVID for the first time in August of 2024 and cranked out three books in five days (To be transparent, the three books were The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy). What a feat!

That fall, I also started a book club for bookworm wannabes like me.

Rather than all reading the same book, I encouraged the members of my book club to just come and talk about books. We talked about books we’ve read, we want to read, were currently reading, or if we were feeling particularly uninspired by reading, movie adaptations of books.

It was nice to surround myself with other people who want to read, and our meetings kept me accountable for making progress in my books. Somehow, I still managed to read Intermezzo by Sally Rooney for the entirety of the book club’s existence. Yet, this senior project of mine managed to send me off into postgrad life with a healed reading mentality.

Now, five months removed from post-grad, I feel proud to announce that I have kept up with my reading. In fact, in the last month I read three books!

I have no proof that reading has helped by writing, but I do think that it has allowed me to become more in-tune with central themes in books that relate to my everyday life, acknowledging widespread cliches I might find in my own writing or analysis, and has encouraged the creepy voice in my head to describe my surroundings as if my life is a novel.

Everyone is different, and not all advice is good advice, but I do think there is importance in realizing how a lack of motivation does not equate to a lack of ability to do something. So, with that, I encourage you to take the next 21 days of your life to get in the habit of eating an entire frozen pizza like a piece of toast.