#1: Read a book

There’s nothing like curling up with a good book.

Book worm || Courtesy of Sodahead.com

With the stillness of the night, reading a book is a sure way to really focus on the main plot of the story. If you're from New York, like me, "stillness" may not be the best word to describe the night, so the sounds of the city which one has gotten used to, is a suitable background noise and is a clear substitute for the chirping crickets or deathly silence. 

Maybe you’re the type of person who has so many books crowding the bookshelf, but just no time to read them. With busy schedules bombarding our everyday lives, bookmarks have nestled on a specific page in several books and have made a semi-permanent home, awaiting the reader to transfer them to a subsequent page—story of my life.

Next time you’re up late, grab that novel that you haven't cracked open in a while or haven't even touched at all. Devote the night to reading. Forget about beating your latest Angry Birds score or accessing Facebook (technology nowadays..smh) on your Nook, Kindle or other e-reader... use it for what it was originally meant for: reading.

Let’s say you’re not like me and have no interest in the books you have around. What do you do?

READ IT ANYWAY. 

How do you know you don't have an interest in the book? Is it the unappealing cover design? The mundane summary on the back? Or perhaps it was the seemingly dramatic praises for the book by strategically selected (yet pretty legit) sources. Whatever the reason, you never know until you blow the dust off the top and start reading. It might end up being a really good after all.

WHY read a book?

It's the end to a long, stressful day--so diving into a book is a sure way to unwind and shove those bombarding thoughts to the back-burner for a little while. It's exciting and many people don't realize that books are more than capable of moving readers to the edge of their seat like any suspenseful movie can! Plus, you build your vocabulary, gain new ideas and most importantly it puts your mind to work and makes you think.