Recently, I’ve been reading more books than before. When I started this blog, I (mostly) quit social media. Along with that, the amount I read increased.¹

In order to find reading enjoyable, you obviously need to be able to read text. But it’s not just about being able to read letters—you also need the ability to continue reading through long passages that span many pages.

If you think about it objectively, it’s questionable whether this is really “fun.” For example, imagine you had to read a Spanish novel right now. If you don’t know Spanish, you won’t understand the content. And even if you used a translation tool and managed to follow the meaning, cultural and social differences might leave you unsure about how to enjoy it.

On the other hand, suppose you’re familiar with Spanish culture, have lived in Spain, and even have Spanish friends who recommend popular writers to you. In that case, you’d likely find it easier to stay engaged and read all the way to the end.

What I’m trying to say is this: in order to enjoy something, there’s usually a period of practice and familiarity required before it becomes enjoyable. The process of getting accustomed to something may not be very fun. Think about extracurricular club activities—the time spent on basic training wasn’t all that enjoyable. But it was that foundation that made the actual playing more fulfilling.

In other words, in order to savor enjoyment, there may first be a stretch of difficult or tedious effort. The reason we can enjoy reading books now is because we studied language arts in school.

Personally, I disliked writing kanji, but I pushed through and managed to earn Level 2 of the Kanji Kentei. Thanks to that experience, I became good at modern Japanese reading comprehension, and reading no longer felt burdensome.

Whatever the subject, once you gain proficiency, a sense of enjoyment tends to emerge.

So, if you want to find a hobby you can sustain for a long time, I recommend sticking with it even if it doesn’t seem very fun at first. Once you get past that initial learning period, you’ll almost certainly begin to discover its joys.

Footnotes

1. By the way, the reason I quit social media was because I read Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism. ↩