I beach readified my life. What I learned from doing less.

As a kid, I was a voracious reader. I had shelves of books and crushed every reading challenge, even without the promise of a personal pan pizza. In high school, fueled by AP English reading lists, I kept reading at a good clip. In college and grad school, I focused on textbooks. Reading for fun wasn’t a thing. And then, one day, I realized I didn’t read anymore. 

Being a Busy Young Professional, I assumed the best way to read was to take on books to make me a better business lady. And, of course, self-help because I was a girl in my late 20s and early 30s. It was a slog. Don’t get me wrong, some of the books were good and helpful, but I had to make myself do it. 

Then I joined a book club and read some things I usually wouldn’t have picked up, you know, fiction. And I liked it. I slowly gave up the idea that the books I read had to be serious or make me somehow better. I rediscovered that reading didn’t have to be homework; it could just be a fun thing I enjoyed. Beach reads gave me the escape I loved without adding to my mental load.

Once I realized I had been making things more complicated for myself, I noticed a similar relationship with more things in my life, cooking, exercise, and even this blog. For so long, my mindset was, “I like this thing, and I want to do it, so I have to do it.” I made the things I wanted to enjoy chores. I overly complicated them to the point of robbing them of joy. 

I love cooking and trying new recipes. Meal planning became intricate dishes every night. By Wednesday, I was so exhausted that DoorDash became the default, or we ended up raiding the freezer and wasting food. 

I signed up for early morning workout classes when I am famously not a morning person. I would get frustrated when I slept through a class that started two hours before I usually woke up. 

But what if I adopted the beach reads theory into other areas of my life? Could I still do the things I want - and need - to do without setting myself up for failure? 

I think so, and it’s what I’ve been referring to as “beach readifying my life.” Book Riot describes beach reads as low stakes, compulsively readable, and vehicles of carefree joy. Who doesn’t want more of that in their lives? Beach reads are also described as mood reading when you adapt your habit to suit your mood. And maybe if I let one habit flex based on my mood, energy levels, and mental space, I could give myself that same grace in other areas.

I removed the idea that I had to do the most of everything and could take shortcuts to make life easier and more enjoyable. The boot camp I love has an online option. I can do the Tuesday 5:45 am class on Wednesday at 5:15 pm. I can cook a couple of full recipes every week, grab a couple of entrees from Social Suppers (shout out), and roast some fresh veggies on other days. 

I can still enjoy the things I like, and they can still be good for me, but I don’t have to do *the most* of each thing. 

Having a low-stakes version of the things I love but don’t always feel like I can do, even when I want to, has made life a little easier and much lighter.