The Deeper Benefits of Reading Fiction Most Don’t Realize
Fiction is far more than a “pastime” — and the polar opposite of a “waste of time”
As I was craping carrots in my boxers, it hit me.
When was the last time I read a fine novel? Lost myself in a riveting story?
“A couple of months ago?”, whispered the doubtful answer. But it felt like eons.
Growing up with Percy Jackson, Eragon, and Tom Sawyer, fiction was my one enduring love. My mom’s bedtime stories had sown the seed in preschool itself.
So, why in the world had I jilted this lifelong love?
Simple.
Drunk on productivity and self-help, I’d begun seeing it as a “hobby” I couldn’t afford. Or worse, had I deluded myself into viewing it as a “waste of time”?
Either way, I’d made the cardinal mistake most non-(fiction-only) readers make…
Dismissing the life-changing power of fiction as a “leisurely pastime.”
What Actually Inspires (True Change In) Us Humans
“Of the 500+ books I’ve read so far, which have truly sculpted my life and worldview?”, I mused.
Within a minute or so of reflection, names soared up:
Atlas Shrugged. Psycho Cybernetics. Can’t Hurt Me. When Breath Becomes Air. They Both Die At The End. Animal Farm. Power vs Force. Lord Of The Flies. Man’s Search For Meaning. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Crime and Punishment. The Kite Runner. Siddhartha. The Alchemist.
9 of the 14 names above are fiction. Surprising, I know. But it makes sense: