 Before I begin, go ahead and click that subscribe button. I would love to get to know you better. Let's get started. So I used to hate reading, no like I mean I hated reading. It felt forced, it felt required and mandatory and like teachers were breathing down my back. Does anyone else remember like the 20 minutes of forced pleasure reading you would have in high school or middle school for that matter and like even the teacher would try to sit down and read a book. I never understood this. Why the heck do I have to sit here in the quiet and read a book I don't even like. Oh yeah and I kind of secretly judged people that read books as boring. Sorry. So I graduated college in 2010 and I felt like a free woman. I don't have to read anything ever again. I don't have to read textbooks. I don't have to read dumb novels that my teachers forced down my throat. No literally. I did not like to read. I was going to use all of my time to watch Food Network and not do anything. Well I might have to get a job because that's like what grown-ups do right. Here I was comfy, cozy in my little mindset, my fixed mindset that I would never have to learn anything again and I had gotten my diploma for college. I had graduated and I was going to enter the career field. So we moved to Colorado and I became a mom a few years later and what the heck do I do with these little people all the time that need me? Well I'm going to go on some play dates and I'm also going to go to the library because it's free. We went to the library like all the time almost every week. We did summer reading program, we did baby time, we did music for toddlers and it was such a godsend because I was able to pretty much have planned activities with my kids without having to do much of the planning myself. So after a few years of going to the library and my toddlers are screaming I started to realize I might need help because aren't we all the perfect parent before, after and during pregnancy. I'm like I had this, I had this figured out I didn't need any help. Well then your kid becomes a toddler and you're like well crap I need some assistance. So I started reading parenting books and anything I could get my hands on books that would help my baby sleep, books that would help me be a calmer parent. I was really into like non-fiction practical information and advice. I like to get cookbooks and gardening tips, those types of things as well. But I did not ever understand fiction. Fiction? You mean I'm going to sit down while my kids are screaming at me and try to read a book that doesn't even, it's not even real. Like these characters are real, this plot line doesn't even make sense. I'm not going to sit and waste my time reading fiction. So at the end of I think it was like 2017 I had really started doing a lot of personal growth and asking God to help me pluck up the things that didn't need to be there. Things from my past, fears that I had, I didn't want to live in a fixed mindset anymore. I decided 2018 was going to be a year of firsts and things that I had never done before that I really was excited and afraid to do and one of those things was get my tattoo. I was so excited about that and I really wanted to try things that I had never done before so that I wasn't putting myself in this box that I thought I had to be in. So it sounds silly but I really, I just wanted to try reading and reading for pleasure even though that sounded frivolous. I wanted to be able to not worry about my to-do list and find something that was productive in a different way so I could grow in every area of my life and it just so happened about the same time I had a good friend of mine go do you want to join a book club? Like I'm thinking about putting this book club together it would be awesome if you and a few of my other friends could join and I was like yeah that's exactly what I want to do. We started this humble little book club and it has turned out to be one of my favorite things every month that we do and we're all from different areas and walks of life but somehow we all get each other and we have a lot of fun together so I have come to love reading. It's a community event now when I finish a book I text my friends and go guys I just finished this book in one sitting how the heck did I do that because that's not me right? Well it is now. It's like a way to travel without actually having to buy a plane ticket I've decided. It's helped my speech it's helped me become a better listener it's helped me improve the way I can relate to others. I've become a faster reader now too. I could blow through a book in a couple of sittings and it's not even a big deal. So if you've never been a reader ask yourself why? Why is that holding you back? You might decide to try it and go wow I really like this and I do believe everyone can be a reader. We have to branch out and find hobbies that challenge us or ignite next excitement in us that that we haven't had before. Don't let a fixed mindset hold you back from anything this year. You are so valuable and God made you for amazing things. You have so much to offer the world as you are and as you grow and on that note go get messy have fun and learn. I'll see you next time.