Come to the library with me :)

I love reading in the Portsmouth student library. Something about the echoes of furious typing makes me feel like I have to be doing something. It makes the perfect place for a fully motivated, concentrated read. The type where your eyes get tired from squinting and you look up and think when did it get so dark?

It’s the perfect change of scenery to help me feel more motivated to read. Readers block is a very real thing. My head often feels swarmed with the thoughts of upcoming deadlines, home, cooking and the pressure of wanting to concentrate but not feeling able. The library lets me detach myself from all of this worry.

Photos : taken by me in The University of Portsmouth Library.

I also find it to be a much needed break from social media and my phone. There are only so many tiktoks i can watch without feeling crazy. I think the approach of winter with it being dark by 5 o’clock it is even easier to wrap myself in a blanket all evening. The fresh air, change of pace and new atmosphere serves as a hard reset for my tired brain and motivates me to both work and read. It also helps me relax without feeling like a couch potato.

Recently I have been doing a lot of academic reading rather than reading for pleasure. I think I'm not alone in sometimes finding this really difficult because I know that I have to do this rather than choosing to.

Therefore if you can get yourself down to your local library I would highly suggest doing so. It is an escape from stress and worry and it gets you out of bed. I know that once I get back from my lectures I would otherwise be trapped under my covers for the foreseeable future.