5. Read One New Book a Month

I’ve always loved to read.  One of my earliest memories when I first started elementary school was how easy reading came to me.  I remember specifically a workbook that we used in the second grade for reading comprehension.  We would read a (lengthy) story and answer questions afterwards.  Some of my classmates hated it, but I loved it.  As my schedule has filled up over the years, I find it harder and harder to sit still long enough to finish a book.  However, reading is still a pastime very close to my heart.

Recently while attending a workshop, our instructor told us that she was a member of a Book Club that met on a monthly basis.  She shared with our group how her Book Club was an amazing group of ladies that got together to discuss their ‘pick of the month’ and enjoy some quality time with each other.  I was immediately jealous, and I thought to myself, “I really wish that we had something like that around here.”

I have been thinking about my “Year of 40” list for quite some time, and I’ve also been trying to think of ways to keep myself on track.  The more I thought about my jealousy over not having a local Book Club, the more I heard a little voice saying, “Mary – if you want to join a Book Club and can’t fine one – START a Book Club.”

So, I created a group message on Facebook – and did nothing.  Created the group, but sent no message.  I started to talk myself out of it.  I thought, “Just because I want to do this, no one else will.  I’m sure everyone will think this is just a waste of time.”  Not realizing that people could see I started the group, I had some people ask me what the group message was for.  That made me feel brilliant that I had forgotten to delete the darn thing.

As September grew closer and my “Year of 40” list started to materialize, I kept thinking about my non-existent Book Club – as well as the long list of books I wanted to read this year.  My sister-in-law kept asking me when – if ever – I was going finally going to utilize my group message.  The next night I went home, pulled up my message, had a glass of wine, and sent out my message.  Looking back now – I laugh at how nervous I was when I hit the “Send” button.

Just as I thought would happen, it wasn’t everyone’s thing.  Some people left the group.  Some people said, “Thanks, but I’m just too busy right now.”  Some people said they would like to be kept in the loop, but they weren’t sure how many times they would be able to attend.  Everyone said that if they changed their minds or their schedules changed, they would let me know.  I appreciated everyone’s honesty.  Then there was a group that was just as excited as I was to finally have a group of ladies to read books with.

In the weeks that followed, I started to get messages from everyone saying how excited they were and how much they were looking forward to getting together.  I think my favorite part was how some ladies sent me Snap Chats and texts showing me pictures of our first book when their copy had been delivered.

This past Sunday we had our second Bearcat Book Club get together.  Every time I saw someone walk through the front door of my friend’s home, my smile got a little bigger.  Here was a group of some amazing ladies that were taking time out of their busy weeks to spend some time discussing our monthly read, and (more importantly) spend some time with each other.  As cheesy as it sounds, I almost got a little teary eyed as I sat around the table listening to the conversation.  Our book this month was “The 5 Second Rule” by Mel Robbins – and every single lady sitting at the table discussed the positive changes they had made or experienced as a result of putting what they learned in the book to work.  Each one of these ladies was responsible for making these changes on their own, but I couldn’t help but think to myself – “Just think what would have happened if you never would have hit that ‘Send’ button.”

Not every member can make every meeting, but that’s okay.  For the ones that can attend, we always have a great discussion.  It’s so refreshing to take some time out of our schedules to talk about something positive and just spend some time with some great ladies.

Lesson Learned From Item #5: Never be afraid to put yourself out there.  To quote an amazing lady that just shared this with me recently, “When you put yourself and your ideas out there, you’ll get back so much more in return.”