Right from school, I was never into reading non-fiction. Boring and dry, I never bothered to pick any interesting science or biography books from the library.
In fact, during my undergrad in St. Stephen's College, Delhi, I didn't bother to spend time reading any other interesting material apart from my academic curriculum because I found nonfiction extremely unrelatable as an undergrad. At this phase of my life, I thought of myself as someone who would never enjoy anything that isn't storytelling.
And then reality struck me when I struggled to manage people's emotions at work. As a 21-year-old, I clearly remember struggling to upward manage my bosses.
And then one day, a dear friend was raving about his latest read. Linchpin by Seth Godin. I remember nervously borrowing that book from him as if I was entering into some foreign scary territory. By then I had gulped more than 50 fiction reads but never nonfiction.
I now remember falling in absolute love with the book and oh my how a lot of takeaways were actually applicable to my struggles in corporate life. In fact, I finished the book in 3 days!
Today, I have lost count of the innumerable nonfiction reads that have helped me as a true honest friend to thrive in my job and personal life. I love people who gift me nonfiction and I love gifting nonfiction to my favorite people!
We often assume that we aren't capable of reading long dry non-fiction. But how would know if you have never felt the need for reading them? Or it could be because you haven't identified the nonfiction read with which you are yet to fall in love with!
Find new loves in life- don't settle with existing boring ones :)
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Author- Shatakshi Sharma, Cofounder Global Governance Initiative, Ex- BCG, Advisor, Tony Blair Institute
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