3 Reasons Not to Bring a Book to the Beach

Vacation is a perfect time to catch up on your reading. Especially if you’re going to the beach; a beach bag without a book feels incomplete.

That said, I’d like to invite you to consider leaving the book behind on your next vacation or trip to the beach. Or, at least give yourself a few book-free days.

Here are three reasons why you’ll benefit from leaving the book at home:

(1) Rest Your Brain

In our 24/7 culture, we overload ourselves with work and busy-ness. In America, at least, we use weekends to “catch up on work” or “run errands” (not all cultures do this).

All of these activities tax the brain. We don’t ever let up from the constant world of thinking and planning.

A vacation or a day off is a time to rest. And not just your body. The brain also needs a chance to rest.

After sustaining a traumatic brain injury four years ago, one of the biggest lessons I learned was about the importance of rest.

In that context, I was shocked to learn this crucial fact:

Reading is not resting.

Reading does not allow the brain to rest. This includes reading physical books — it’s not just about screen-time.

It also includes listening to audiobooks and podcasts.

(2) Create An Opportunity to Learn From Yourself

In leadership and personal development circles, many people boast about how many books they read each year.

Many of the books that you might consider taking on vacation are non-fiction books. These books are containers for other people’s research, experiences, and lessons learned.

This is, of course, why we like to read books.

Books are a valuable resource for ideas, information, and insights. They help us expand our thinking and perspective. They also allow us to model other people’s success and learn from their mistakes. Why reinvent the wheel or do your own research if someone else has already done the work?

But there’s also value of having your own experience and generating your own wisdom.

Instead of reading about other people’s experiences or research, what about having your own?

What’s true for you?

How do you even begin to answer that unless you give yourself permission to be in your experience?

You can read a book about mindfulness or simply practice it yourself and have the experience of it.

What’s in the book is information; what you experience is knowledge. It lives within you, and creates wisdom that you’ll have forever.

(3) Actually Participate in Your Own Experience

If you want to learn from your own experience, you’ve got to actually participate in your experience. And that requires you do something that’s uncomfortable for most of us: sit still and to be with yourself.

Books — both fiction and non-fiction — are a popular and culturally-sanctioned way to escape the emptiness and avoid the discomfort of being with ourselves. We can get lost in fictional worlds and other people’s problems and dramas. Sometimes you may not even realize that you are absorbing the energy of that fictional (or non-fictional) world.

To be clear, it’s ok to escape sometimes — whether its a book or a magazine, or some other empty entertainment, we need times of distraction. It’s a wonderful gift to get lost in another world for a while.

AND… also give yourself the gift of being present to your own experience. It will help you answer that question What’s true for you?

What will you do without a book?

Sit in the emptiness and notice your experience. See what comes up in the stillness — without books, music, and other distractions.

Get to know your own soul.