In 2024, I Started Reading and Writing the Outstanding Days of my Life

Because, in the sea of timelessness, you’re the one passing by. Literally.

Feb 20, 2024

Time never ceases. We are the ones passing by. Literally.

This is my first story of 2024. Yes, even though I published it one month into the year.

Brandon Heath’s song. It’s Good to Be Alive came to mind as I wrote at the year’s onset.

… Then right here, right now
This is the song I'm singing out
I wanna live like there's no tomorrow
Love like I'm on borrowed time
It's good to be alive
I won’t take it for granted
I won’t waste another second
All I want is to give you
A life well lived, to say “thank you”

I became a Medium pro in 2020, and as is common with other Medium writers and readers, the platform has undergone several transformations.

Technological and other transformations make us ponder over the life we were living before.

What was life like before all these digital gizmos changed us?

Continuously?

And forever?

In 1997, I bought a copy of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace at a grand cost of 1 British pound while on an excursion, right inside Edinburgh Castle, Scotland.

War and Peace gathered dust on my shelf for six years before I started reading it in 2003. Most of my reading time was while I was on the job in the forest and the mangrove swamps of Nigeria's Niger Delta.

No, I wasn't lopping about that massive volume under the watchful eyes of my supervisor. I read War and Peace on my Mobipocket e-reader app via Sony Ericsson P800. I also read Anna Karenina on that first (or, was it second) generation smartphone.

Mobipocket gave access to many of those out-of-reach books freely available on Project Gutenberg's website.

Since then, I've never turned back on eBooks. Even when I have hard copy editions of my favorite books, I prefer reading the e-versions.

Last week, my young man looked at the hardcopy edition of War and Peace.

“Dad, the texts of this 983-page volume are too tiny for my eyes.’

Seeing my read-mark on the long edge of the book, he queried me.

“Dad, are you telling me you read this book?”

Yes, cover-to-cover, on my first smartphone — Sony Ericsson P800.

That was then, now an undergraduate, the young man struggling with my volume of War and Peace told me the text characters in this edition are too tiny for comfort. True. Photo by the author.

More than enough “outstanding life” 2go.

In 2020, I started writing on Medium. With the support of many mentors (including Genius Turner) and editors (especially Dr Mehmet Yildiz), I made some progress.

Slow but very steady.

Ever since, I've written over 180 stories.

My writing interests include book reviews and insights from books I’ve read. I also touch on leadership, society, and my Christian faith. Nigeria, my country, is also paramount in many of my stories.

But, this one-way trip called life isn’t just about reading.

Now, tell us your own story.

Not about how many books or stories you've read.

Nor about the number of books or stories you've written.

It's all about how you are going to live out the outstanding days left in this very brief life of yours.

How many lives are you going to touch as you travel along?

On my Notion dashboard, I showed my son my life tracker widget.

"Son, you see this widget number?" It represents the percentage of my projected lifespan that is gone.

But let me tell you, if I’m lucky to live the rest of my days out in health, and spared all the violence around me, I have about one-quarter left of my projected life expectancy.

Believe me, what I have left is more than enough.

Screen clip of lifetime tracker from the author’s Notion dashboard

In 2023, I read twelve books.

Here are my favorite reads along with links to some for which I did reviews.

Os Guinness — Magna Carta of Humanity
Victor Hugo — Les Miserables
Sherry Sontag — Blind Man’s Bluff
Os Guinness — The Gravedigger File — Letters on the Subversion of the Church
Elechi Amadi — The Concubine
Chinua Achebe — Things Fall Apart

Here is my completed 2023 reading list — Page Turners and Beloved Classics of 2023

Thank you for reading 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝟐𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕖 - 𝒖𝒏𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Writing out my life

First lessons first.

When it comes to online writing, the reader is king.

The more you can grab and retain your readers’ attention, the more likely you are to succeed. I’m still racing on and growing my profile.

One way I learned how to write on Medium is by writing for myself first. If what I authored is worth my reread, then it is probably good enough. Maybe.

You only live twice, once when you are born and the other when you see death in the face.
~ ©Ian Fleming (James Bond) — You Only Live Twice

How to step out of your brain in 2024

Practice what you read. Make time to practice and use some of the transformative insights from all the fiction and nonfiction you read in 2023 and before.
Life is not about how much you read or write. People want to know how much you care than about how much you’ve read and written.
Many of life's most beautiful, treasured experiences are to be found in life's little things. Don’t wait too late to discover you’ve only existed all your life, never having made time to live.
Letting those nagging troubles be (for a while) may be your first step to finding the solution you need. At times what you need most is to take your mind off your problems to come back to them later. The time or night sleep away from them may give you new perspectives and the mind-shift that more adequately prepares you to tackle them.
Let’s reflect on life and the stories we read and write on Medium.

Does sunset sometimes look like the sun is coming up?
Do you know what a faithful love is like?
You're crying; you say you've burned yourself.
But can you think of anyone who's not
hazy with smoke?
~~~ Rumi (1207 - 1273)

Now, start reading for life. Yours first.

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina 🇺🇦 on Unsplash

“I tell you, sir, this is the end of the world. The students never were so riotous before; it’s the cursed inventions of the age that are ruining us all, — artillery, bombards, serpentines, and particularly printing, that other German pestilence. No more manuscripts, no more books! Printing is death to bookselling. The end of the world is at hand.”
©Victor Hugo ~ The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Start writing today. Use the button below to create your Substack and connect your publication with 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝟐𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕖 - 𝒖𝒏𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅

Start a Substack

I’m a lifelong lover of books.

But reading so many books within so little time can easily get into any bibliophile’s head.

If my assertion strikes a chord within you, you’re in good company.

My “easily get into your head” is a compliment and a wake-up call. A compliment because the vast majority of people never read through a single book, cover-to-cover, in one full year. A wake-up call because it’s so easy to make reading and end. Don’t do it.

In an interesting article, Wordsrated shared insights and poll findings.

The average American reads 12.6 books per year, including the books they started reading but haven’t necessarily completed. If we count only fully-read books, the average American adult reads just over 5 books per year.

Digging further, New York Post reported that, “Overall, the average person reads eight books a month, totalling almost 100 books a year.”

The outliers in all these statistics are the chief executives of companies and corporations. On average, your company’s topmost “Top Gunner” reads a whopping 60 books per year!

Meaning what?

I’ve not even started reading.

Do I intend to start now?

No. At least not in the way you think.

5 compelling reasons to read more in 2024.

Reading keeps your brain active. Among other things, reading helps reduce the likelihood of age-related cognitive decline.
Reading keeps you far from the MADly (Mutually Assured Distractions) distracted crowd. As flooded as our times are with MAD gadgets, reading helps maintain your focus better. Instead of the infodemic affliction of social media, apps, games, etc. focused reading broadens and deepens your knowledge.
As you read more, your vocabulary increases and you get better at communicating your ideas or expressing yourself before others.
Reading printed books helps lure you to sleep at night (and at any time). Printed books are the best if you prefer to read at night. E-books are ever within our reach via our smartphones, Kindles, and e-book reading apps. To protect your eyes, always read your ebooks in dark screen mode and with external light sources switched on.
Reading can enhance your capacity for empathy, personal reflection, and meditation. In the long run, your mental health and general outlook improve. With all these benefits, the odds of a longer lifespan are in your favor.

Join me and let’s read more in 2024.

Screenshot of the author’s favorite books read in 2023

5 reasons why reading less might be a plus in 2024

As writers, we read prodigious volumes of content every year. Our livelihood depends on getting readers’ attention — reading and interacting with us and our content.

Therefore, it may appear self-defeating to read my advocating for fewer but more meaningful reading.

With time and as I advance in years, I’ve come to realize that reading only matters that much up to a point. There comes a limit where compulsively consuming more content and more books offer marginal to zero benefits.

By all means, read. Read more frequently and consistently. But instead of being 52 books wide and a page thin in life and living, here is how and why I’ll be reading less but better in 2024.

Counterintuitively, reading less may even get you to read better. I’ve been keeping records about the books I read for over 10 years. I even have hand-written notes on some books I read over 30 years ago — before I landed my first smartphone and eBook app and Microsoft OneNote. With these notes, I’m able to reflect, meditate, and gear myself into using the knowledge I’ve gained.
Millions of books were published before you knew how to read the alphabet. Millions of books are still being churned out every year. Even if you have a thousand lifetimes to re-live this very brief life of yours, you can never exhaust a cupful of water from this ever-expanding ocean of knowledge.
It is impossible to know or recall everything you will ever read. Rather, focus on reading less, but better. Your emphasis must never be on consuming more and more content. Focus more on what is most practical for your present needs. And you’ll be better for it.
Compulsive reading and excessively consuming too much content could be counterproductive. By all means, I encourage you to read more, but your focus must be on reading fewer but getting better through what you read.
Consuming less is a must if you are to go further towards your writing targets. As a writer, compulsive reading will only make you a better reader while your writing goals keep on lagging.

Your choice, your life.

Screenshot of reading list by the author.

This 2024 I’m already out on a good start. In January, I covered Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and Elechi Amadi’s Great Ponds. But whether I read more or fewer books, one thing I’m certain of is I’ll be taking my own medicine — following my reading prescription.

Not just reading less, but reading better and living more.

In 2024, compulsively reading more is not on my agenda anymore.

However, I hope to write more and better, 2024 and onward.

Come, let’s write and grow together.

Source

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𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝟐𝕄𝕦𝕤𝕖 - 𝒖𝒏𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅