If you are a long term follower of my blog or any other social media sites, then you will know I am both a big reader and a big watcher (of film and TV). Since last March, both have become even more important in my life. I wanted to use this blog post to talk about my passion for both and how I balance both.
What Books, Films and TV Shows Mean to Me
It is a slightly cliche answer, but reading has always been a passion of mine. I come from a family of readers, so it's practically in my DNA. Over the past few years, I have made it a part of my daily routine to always have some time to read. Similarly, with films and TV shows, they have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I wouldn't say it was as active as reading, but there were films and TV shows I waited for and was so excited to finally watch. Since starting university, but particularly in the last year, my passion for films and TV shows has become more pronounced. I watched way over double what I read last year. Being able to escape into these worlds (which I also do with books) was bliss.
I am also a Creative and Professional Writing student, with the hopes of one day becoming a professional writer. I had thought that I would always go down the fiction route, wanting to write books as they had shaped my life so much. I think I'm now leaning more towards working in film and TV when I graduate. I haven't fully decided as I enjoy writing both and there's nothing to say I can't write both. So not only do I enjoy books, films and TV shows as a consumer, I also like writing them, which plays into why they are so important to me.
How to Balance Both Passions
Reading and watching are very time consuming passions (hobbies?), which means I have to set aside a lot of time for both. Part of this is for my own enjoyment and part of this is for my degree/to learn more. In 2020, the balance definitely leaned more on the favour of film and TV. This is something I'm trying to balance more in 2021. Whenever I finish uni for the day, my main goal is to try and read for an hour. That doesn't always happen for various reasons. If I don't read for an hour, I like to at least read a couple of chapters.
Sometimes I will prioritise watching films and TV shows over reading. I like watching things before I go to bed as I've found I can get sleepy while reading but it takes me a while to fall asleep. So I've started watching things before I go to bed so I am actually quite tired before I fall asleep. I do set a time limit of 11:30pm being the latest I will be switching things off and going to sleep. This is the balance I've found that works for me personally, so it's really about finding the balance that works for you.
Is One More Important than the Other?
I wanted to include a section on which is more important to me as I feel that is something that should be discussed. The honest answer is no. Both are equally important to me, however, I will always prioritise reading over watching. Most of my content is about books, so therefore I have to put more of my time into books. However, career wise, I see myself going down the film and TV route. This does make finding a balance difficult because they are both so important to me. I think I will always end up watching more than I read because you know how long something is going to take to watch, you can never predict how long something is going to take to watch. So in a rather long winded way, my answer is that both are just as important and finding a balance can be difficult.
My Reading and Watching Routine
I start my day by watching something that is roughly twenty minutes long to help with some back problems I have. I then will watch something that is around half an hour with my parents at lunchtime. Reading is usually my priority and I will read while tea is being cooked. I then watch something with my parents while we eat our tea and spend time together after our busy days working. I like to read a couple of chapters roughly before I got to bed. I end my day by watching something, always making sure to be turning everything off by 11:30pm.
That concludes this post on my reading and watching habits and how I try to balance the two.
Carenza :) x
