Reading in the Margins of a Busy Life | Making Time for Reading

There was a time when reading meant hours. Long afternoons swallowed by chapters, evenings that disappeared into stories, days shaped around the quiet luxury of uninterrupted time. Reading felt expansive, something I entered fully and stayed inside for a while.

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Life, as it often does, grew fuller.

Now, reading lives in the margins.

Not abandoned, not forgotten, just changed.

It slips into the small, quiet spaces between obligations. A few pages before sleep. A chapter read slowly in the early morning. A paragraph held onto like a breath between one thing and the next. Reading no longer asks for my whole day, it asks only for my attention.

For a while, I thought this meant I was losing something.

I told myself I should be reading more, faster, better. That a real reader finishes books quickly. That if I wasn’t devouring stories the way I once did, I was somehow doing it wrong.

But busy lives don’t erase our love for books, they reshape it.

Reading in a full life becomes an act of intention. I choose stories that meet me where I am. Books that don’t demand urgency. Familiar voices I can return to without pressure. Worlds I can step into briefly and still feel changed by.

I’ve learned to release the rules I once carried. I don’t need to finish quickly. I don’t need uninterrupted time. I don’t need to read what everyone else is reading. I only need to show up honestly, with whatever time I have.

Some days that means ten pages. Some days it’s one. Sometimes it’s rereading a single paragraph because it feels like home.

And that still counts.

Reading this way is quieter, but it’s also more intimate. Each moment feels chosen. Each page feels earned. Stories aren’t consumed, they’re carried, slowly, alongside the rest of life.

Reading doesn’t need to compete with a busy life. It can exist within it. Woven into routines. Tucked into corners. Waiting patiently for you to return.

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A Few Ways to Keep Reading When Life Is Full

There is no perfect system for reading in a busy life. But there are small shifts that make space feel possible again.

• Lower the threshold.

Let reading begin with one page. Not a chapter. Not a set amount of time. One page is an invitation, not a commitment, and often, it’s enough to bring you back.

• Choose books that match your energy, not your aspirations.

Some seasons call for challenge. Others call for comfort. Reading becomes easier when the book meets you where you are, not where you think you should be.

• Keep a book within reach.

On your bedside table. In your bag. On your phone. Reading happens more often when it’s already waiting for you.

• Let go of linear reading.

It’s okay to reread. To pause. To take weeks or months with the same book. Stories don’t mind being read slowly. They are patient.

• Redefine what “counts.”

Ten minutes before bed. A few pages in the morning. A paragraph during a quiet pause. Reading doesn’t need to be dramatic to be meaningful.

• Allow reading to be a companion, not another task.

If it feels heavy, step back. If it feels like comfort, lean in. Reading should soften the day, not measure it.

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Thoughts

Reading does not disappear when life becomes busy, it adapts.

It learns to live in smaller spaces, to wait without resentment, to offer itself quietly instead of loudly. It stops asking for perfection and begins asking only for presence.

If all you have today is a margin, read there.

A single page can still steady you. A sentence can still linger. A story can still remind you who you are.

And that, in the midst of a full life, is more than enough.