Getting Older and TBR Lists

The truth about getting older is that things change. They change drastically and you can even become a very different person then who you proclaimed to be at age eight. You'r perception of the world changes, your appearance is altered and among other things...you seem to have less and less time on your hands.

I've begun to feel this all to much lately. I never seem to have enough time to study as much as I should. Nor do I have enough time for my hobbies, reading included. Since I've gotten into high school (I'd say the change probably happened around sophomore year) my reading has dropped to an all time low. I've never not read this much, not since I learned how to read anyway. And it's because of that annoying little problem I have. There's not enough hours in the day to get around to everything I need and want to do.

Thus far, I've dealt with this by almost ignoring it. I still check out tons of books from the library and try to get around to reading, don't laugh, one or two books a week. Yet sometimes that's all that I manage in an entire month. Yes, I'm over here shaking my head at the horror too. So with that being the amount of books that I read (roughly estimated) you can imagine what happens as I'm still checking out a lot of books. I'm having to turn back in armloads of unread books.

I have some kind of weird mentality where I almost always finish a book if I start it. In the same way, it hurts to have to return a book that I didn't even start. And in a few terrifying cases, I've started the book and gotten a few pages or chapters in when it's due, all too soon.

So here I am, in this endless cycle of checking out book after book, yet only being able to finish a few here and there that I desperately wanted to read. It bothers me, yet I'm somehow unable to do anything to change or fix the situation. Then, tonight, a thought struck me.

This must be why people have TBR lists.

I've never really seen a great need for them for myself and if I ever do make any book lists, they're generally quite long and I never take them very seriously. Now, however, I can see how great they can be. It's like a shopping list when you go to the grocery store. In my family, my mom often likes to buy extra, possibly miscellaneous items that aren't on the grocery list. That has caused my dad to have to remind her to stick to the list and really try not to get anything extra. Now, in my mind, a TBR list is much like a shopping list. If I could limit myself to only checking out the books that I've preplanned to read, why then I could stop getting a bagful of books each trip to the library. Instead I could add that book that catches my eye to the list and simply wait until I get far enough through the other books on the list to read it.

And in this way I could finally break free of the cycle of books I've been checking out and turning back in without having read them. Not only will this keep my wandering eye in check, it'll also satisfy the part of me that loves lists and planning.

So, what do you think? Have you ever come to time in your life where you've been to busy to read? Or have you just gotten sucked into the internet and fallen away from the adventures and characters that used to lure you in so easily (because I've experienced that as well). Do you use reading lists? Do they help you or do you pace yourself fine without them? I wanna know ;)