Top 5 Bookish Habits

We’ve got another Top 5 this Tuesday and I’m loving this topic: Top 5 Bookish Habits!

Courtesy of Shana at Bionic Book Worm, we’re taking a look this week at which habits bookworms naturally seem to acquire on account of their book addiction. It sounds a bit crazy but if you’re a bookworm, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Our lives tend to revolve a little bit around our reading lives and that changes how we go about our days and the decisions we make.

My Top 5s might be a bit different from the other readers taking part in this week’s Top 5 Tuesday so be sure to check out more Top 5s via Bionic Book Worm.

 

 

1. Vivid Imagination

I’ve just learned this week that not everyone can visualise things in their head as they read. (Mind. Blown.) But whether we have the ability to visualise or not, bookworms tend to have extraordinary imaginations that project the amazing and fantastical into every day life.

The impossible becomes possible and that can give us a unique empowerment that others don’t possess. We can fix anything, make anything better and luckily, we have just the imaginations to make it happen. (Even if we aren’t quite sure how just yet).

Whether we’re picturing ourselves on a hot beach with a margarita in hand during a particularly difficult shift at work or just bringing our book boyfriends to life, we can escape to whole new worlds wherever we are, whatever we’re doing.

 

 

2. Tea!

Writers drink coffee, readers drink tea. When you are a writer and a reader, chances are you’ll still pick up the teacup rather than the coffee mug when you sit down to read. Tea is the most relaxing beverage on the planet as far as I’m concerned: it’s hot, fragrant and makes you feel like you’re sinking into a feather mattress. It’s the perfect thing to wind down and relax.

I’ve got a ridiculous array of teas in my cupboard for every reading occasion. Fruity teas, black teas, green teas and apparently a tea which boosts your vitamin C levels. I’ll take that over an orange!

Tea drinking is one of the most bookish habits there is and let’s face it, tea and books just go together like milk and cookies.

 

 

3. Recommending this book, recommending that book

Do you ever find yourself saying “Oh! That reminds me of a book I’m reading!” quite a lot? If so, you might be a bookworm. I’ll need to do further tests but put your affairs in order, bookwormitis wreaks havoc on lives. Yeah, there’s a good chance that I’m going to have to put “being dramatic” on this list, too.

It’s strange how often real life can cross paths with the things we remember in books. As bookworms, we often see this as an opportunity to recommend something we just read and loved. Acquaintances start to know us as “the one that reads a lot” and we start receiving books for Secret Santa. (Score!)

As bookworms who just enjoyed an awesome book, we want to share the love with the rest of the world. So we recommend every book we’ve ever loved and feel no shame. Isn’t that how it should be?

 

 

4. Finding the comfy spots

If we’re going to read, we have to find somewhere cosy to do it. In the sofa section of a café, on a beanbag in the library or on the mountain of stuffed toys on our bed. Wherever you go, if you’re with a bookworm, they will hunt down the comfy spots one way or the other.

In some ways, bookworms are a lot like cats. Wanting to nap all the time is sort of a given but even if it means contorting into some uncomfortable positions first, the bookworm will find that sweet spot that makes you feel like your body is made of jelly.

 

 

5. Having all the empathy

Scientifically speaking, reading makes us more empathetic. Not such a sweeping statement when Psychology Today have reported such a study that confirms this. Even if we didn’t have science to tell us, any bookworm could tell you that this is the case. Reading about people’s hurdles and their struggles to overcome them in books exercises our empathy muscles very well.

For this reason, it’s not uncommon for bookworms to want to help you through emotional problems or be the shoulder to cry on. It’s probably less of a habit and more of a compulsion to want to be there for someone who is suffering. This might not be true of every bookworm (some of us are cold, hardened creatures who have seen things, man), but I find it’s quite a consistent trait with all the bookworms I know.

If you’re struggling, your bookworm friend will surely be there to help you!

Thanks for reading!