If you had asked me a year ago, I would have told you I would never take months off of reading. But ultimately I did. For 5 months I didn’t pick up a book at all. My Kindle just sat there unused (aside from any deals I added to my library). My library card and Overdrive account stood empty. And the physical books on my shelves simply sat and collected dust. I always knew that I would return to reading at some point, I just didn’t know when.

It turns out that I needed that time off. I needed time to reflect and just live in my own reality, rather than escaping into a different world through a story. I had just been promoted into a position I wasn’t sure I could do and I needed to focus on that and on rebuilding (or really, just plain building) my team. And that focus turned into success.

Now I’m in a place where I feel like I can escape into books again, and I am. I’m still not committing to any reading goals (though the temptation to set a Goodreads goal is strong!), but it feels good to have that reading time again in the evenings. It’s like curling up with old friends and catching up on our lives.