Another January rolls around, and for many of us, that means another New Year's Resolution has already fallen by the wayside. But what if breaking your promise to yourself is actually the right thing to do? One journalist argues that if you don't genuinely want to change a habit, forcing it is futile.
The Resolution I Was Happy to Break
In 2025, I made a pledge to myself as the year began: I was going to read less. This might seem an odd goal, but it came on the heels of two remarkably bookish years. In 2023, I managed to get through 144 books. The following year, 2024, I astonishingly upped that count to 239 titles, nearly a hundred more.
My Goodreads challenge alert informed me I'd surpassed my own target by 39 books. So, I decided 2025 would be the year I reined it in and tried to be a bit less of a bookworm. That plan did not last. Instead, I found myself finishing the year having read 246 books.
Why Reading is Harder to Resist Than Ever
The simple reason my resolution failed is that I didn't want it to succeed. Reading brings me too much joy to artificially limit. Furthermore, it has never been more accessible. The rise of audiobooks, including services like Spotify offering extra listening hours, means you can absorb a brilliant novel while doing the dishes or vacuuming.
Carrying a Kindle means you can take a library anywhere, turning any wait into an opportunity. It's far better to have an e-reader handy than to be stuck somewhere for hours without one. If all else fails, your headphones and a smartphone will do.
Gone are the days of lugging a hefty hardback to a café or on a train. While daydreaming out of a window has its charms, I find far more pleasure in burying my head in a book. My resolution to read less was, I realised, arbitrary. Why stop doing something you truly love?
The Proven Benefits of Being a Bookworm
This isn't just about personal preference; science backs up the benefits of regular reading. According to the Centre of Adult Education in Australia, daily reading—even just a chapter or two—has significant advantages.
A study from the University of Sussex found that just six minutes of silent reading can slash stress levels by 68 per cent. Perhaps even more compelling is research from 2016, published in the Social Science & Medicine journal, which indicated that reading for at least 30 minutes daily could extend a person's lifespan by an average of two years.
The benefits are social and cognitive too. BookTrust, the UK's largest reading charity, surveyed 1,500 adults and found regular readers reported higher life satisfaction, greater happiness, and a stronger sense that their activities were worthwhile.
Studies also link reading with a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's and dementia, and it can improve sleep quality by replacing pre-bed blue light from phones. Furthermore, reading literary fiction enhances empathy and social skills, helping us better understand people whose lives differ from our own.
Last year, I wanted to read, so I did. I didn't force a tally; if I had been forcing it, I might have aimed for a neat 250. But the point is the enjoyment, not the number. So consider this your sign to break—or better yet, not even make—silly resolutions that don't serve you. Focus on what you genuinely wish to change. For me, reading less is absolutely not on that list.
