Podcast episode 56: Why Reading is the Perfect Hobby!

This week, I’m talking about hobbies …. actually, I’m going to do a series on hobbies in Extraordinary Women Magazine. Why? Hobbies are important to have. Hobbies are about trying on new things with absolutely no expectation of mastery … just fun.

Welcome to the Extraordinary Women Podcast where we chat about the issues that women just like you, are thinking about, dealing with and working through in our daily lives.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Sharri Harmel, Editor and Chief Creative of Extraordinary Women Magazine.

Life can sometimes get a little complicated, stressful and even messy at times but always remember, you are truly a unique and Extraordinary Woman.

One new hobby I’m trying on in November is embroidery. I can’t even remember the last time I embroidered, and I never really learned properly, I just started in with a pattern.

No mastery. No expectations. But I just want to see if I like it again. My class is taught by a woman in Paris who did embroidery for several famous couture shops! Rebecca will be in one of our next Extraordinary Women Magazine issues, so more to come!

Today, though, I want to talk about my biggest hobby and that is reading. I’m an insatiable reader. I read anything … from history (just finished No Ordinary Time with my book club at the American Library in Paris) to Kristin Hannah’s Four Winds, which I cried through and later discussed with my Minnesota book club.

BUT the question is Why Should We Read? Why does reading matter?

First, the characters we meet in books can be comforting and even provide companionship.

When I read a good book of fiction, I’m in the book. I’m not only walking with the characters but I’m in their heads. I’m connecting to their inner thoughts and feelings and if there are any shared experiences, there is a comfort in knowing you aren’t alone.

Currently I’m reading The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles, and I’m Odile … a young woman who just before the start of WW2, wants to break out of family expectations and work at the American Library in Paris. It’s historical fiction that has me switching between two different time periods, two different stages of Odile’s life and her thinking as a young adult versus an outsider in America after the war. I’m Odile – both a young woman and a woman with more years behind her than ahead of her.

I live alone, and having moved back to Boston, I’m slowly rebuilding my community. It’s super easy to feel isolated when you move to a new city or town. Goodness, how many of you freaked out when Facebook and Instagram went down last week? As humans we not only seek connection and community, we need it. So many events can cause you to not have community, especially endings such as a breakup, a divorce or the passing of a spouse. Or a big change in your life – a move to a new city, family estrangement, retirement, career pivot, and even being a solopreneur can be lonely!

But reading provides a kind of companionship that supports you while you build up your physical community. You’ll never ever feel lonely if you read and even more important, you’ll never feel like you’re the only person who has ever dealt with the circumstances that you are going through. That alone is incredibly helpful because it’s so easy for us to think that we’re the only one who is going through whatever it is or that no one on the planet, let alone your city, understands how you are feeling.

Another reason why you should read? You get a more global perspective of history- and that can lessen our stress!

I mentioned that I had read No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin for one of my book clubs, and that book gave me an insight into America during the 30s and 40s that I hadn’t realized.

On a global level, it also helped me to understand what a young country America is, why we can’t lose our history because we really don’t have that much to learn from.

I love Europe and as you know, I live in Paris half the year, so European history is another passion of mine. The book shared what America was like at the start of WW2. I was shocked to learn most adults weren’t in school beyond the 6th or 8th grades, how rampant discrimination was, and that we couldn’t have entered the war at the beginning even if the American people had wanted it because we had zero military, and not much industry.

But I wondered, what was happening in Europe during those times and how did Germany get so powerful? I learned that Germany was decimated after the first world war. Everything had either been destroyed or taken away, so every single thing Germany created was new, and cutting edge. That Maginot Line? Irrelevant! Germany had planes and tanks that made a trench silly. Every other country in Europe was still thinking wars would be fought with horses and guns. Wow….

My perspective of WW2 changed, but what I also realized that every single decision we make as a country, a family or an individual has a consequence, a ripple effect so to speak.

Why this is important to you as a woman today, is that hopefully the global perspective, the bird’s eye view of history, can help you to navigate the choppy waters of today.

We all know how polarized our country and even our families have been for a good while now and that had added huge stress to our lives. Reading books gives us the time to think, discern, and decide our own opinions and beliefs. So much of social media and even the news is about telling us what we should think, the RIGHT way to think regardless of the various opinions and sides. What happened to discussions? Nice debates?

I have a sister who when I said in a conversation in January 2019 that we were both privileged on so many levels, got angry, walked out of my house and hasn’t spoken to me since.

It happens …. families aren’t always loving and caring, and books have helped me to realize I’m not the only person estranged from her sister or family.

The more I read, the more I realize that sadly, this is a rather common occurrence. My guess is that you too probably have a sad story or two, and there is always a book out there that can help you to understand you’re not alone in the experience or the thoughts going through your head. If not, keep reading.

One little exercise I do each year, and sometimes several times during the year, is to write down everything that went well the past year. Try it and don’t filter …. write down everything that went well, big and little.

Next, in another section of your journal, write down all the things that didn’t go well. No judgement, just honesty. The mistakes, bad decisions, poor choices, comments and conversations you wish had never happened …. write them all down.

Now, the gold in this exercise is to go back and write down what you learned from each of those didn’t go well experiences. Think bigger picture – the whole of you – what did you learn from that didn’t go well experience.

I did this with my decision to move back for a short while, to Minnesota. It was tough, but I learned first, you can never go back…and second that I’m grateful for the time I had with children and grandchildren that I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t been there at that particular time. There was goodness and gifts in some of the sadness.

I promise you’ll get value from revisiting those didn’t go well experiences. You’ll find your own nuggets of gold and also that this exercise helps you to let go of any negative, self-defeating thoughts of should have, could have, etc.

My last comment on why you should read is that reading is a hobby, and hobbies are good for us!

Whether I’m reading the comfortable formula of a Danielle Steel novel (my favorite for long plane rides) or laughing through Bill Bryson’s Notes from A Small Island or making notations inside Winter in Paris by Bill Coggins, I’m enjoying myself!

I mentioned I’m trying out a few new hobbies before the year is up, but my all-time favorite hobby is reading. What about you? Any new hobbies you’re trying out? The experts tell us hobbies are good for us. They relieve stress and bring us joy. The truth about a hobby is you either love it or you give it up and find another. You get to spend time only with the hobbies you love.

Plus, hobbies can give us an instant community. An embroidery group, a dinner group, a pickleball or tennis game? You’re instantly a part of a community with people who enjoy at least one thing you too love.

Book clubs have been my joy and my connection through all my moves even across the pond to Paris! I have two, no three book clubs that I’m a part of in Paris. My college sorority sisters book club I started in Minnesota when I was there, reconnected me with women I’ve known and loved since our college years AND allowed me to step into my love of cooking and entertaining.

So reading isn’t a way for me…. it’s one of the pillars of my essence, my personality, my connections.

Maybe I should start a book club with you???

Outro:

Ladies, if you are tired of never having time for you, never making the time to connect with yourself and your dreams, then I know you’ll love the Extraordinary Women Magazine. The magazine will make you want to take some time for yourself because you’re going to want to read each issue as soon as it shows up in your inbox. It’s actually liked a mini hobby!!

I named the magazine Extraordinary Women because every issue has stories of at least two extraordinary women who will probably remind you a little of yourself. Try that label on! And if you know of someone you think I should highlight in the magazine, just message me HERE.

The magazine is a dream supporting, dream inspiring read that I know you’ll love. It’s got ideas, recipes, and lifestyle suggestions meant to give you hope and encouragement, which we need more of today. Plus, in Issue three we have added a section called Home Matters. I had so many people ask me about my Paris apartment and the decorating process of my Boston apartment that I decided to embrace another of my loves, the home.

Also, I’ll be back in my Paris apartment in just one week and staying for three months, so in the magazine there is a section I call My Parisienne Attitude, where I share all my daily musings and experiences around my life in Paris.

In addition, we are creating a small special Christmas in Paris “petit-magazine”, so if you love Paris and want to receive it, make sure to get the magazine now. You’ll then receive that issue as a gift.

Married or solo, kids grown or still at home. Corporate careers, entrepreneurs, a stay-at-home mother or even retired, this magazine is meant to be like your best friend who appreciates you, encourages you and inspires you to find that secret to your happiness.

Click HERE and join us by clicking the subscribe button. Nothing complicated. Simply good stories, a little inspiration, and a big dose of hope.

Thank you and

As I say to my friends and neighbors in Paris ….

À Bientôt!