My best friend Polina handed me a bright red book from the bookshelf of her San Francisco apartment one day.

“Polina, you know I don’t really get into fiction or fantasy novels of this sort.” I told her, with a sort of arrogance that eluded to the fact I only spend my time reading scientific lit.

“Abi, just please try this and thank me later.”

And because it was her, I promised I’d actually try.

At the time I was handed this book, I was grappling with a couple things. A power struggle between my masculine and feminine energy, along with a haywire nervous system on the fast-track to achieving MORE.

Nothing I accomplished ever felt enough for me and I disregarded reading novels as a waste of my precious valuable time to dive into science and entrepreneurial endeavors.

So I opened the book and began to read. (A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sara J Maas.)

If you are anything like me, maybe you have struggled with sitting in your passive, calm, empathetic, feminine energy.

When I began reading this book and opened myself up to stories of adventures, worlds, and romance- I had a perceptive energetic shift.

I would characterize it as “girl-like” in the sense that I got so overjoyed to sit down with my novel like a ritual at the end of each day that it was no different from yoga, a good morning cup of coffee, or a meditation.

It took me out of this world and off to another place, where I could completely disconnect and tap into the imagination that I once had when I was younger before I had become rigid.

It made me sit in silence with nothing but the words on the pages, and I was completely disinterested in my phone.

The heartbreak and yearning I would feel when an incredible book was over, had me searching for the next book that might take my imagination on a journey.

Something happened to my schedule as well. Instead of wanting to relax with Netflix or doom-scrolling, I looked forward to 7:30 pm when I could climb into bed and sink my head into my book with my red light.

The reading helped me activate my parasympathetic nervous system so much that on nights I read before bed versus when I didn’t, I noticed a tangible difference in my sleep.

I was lulling into deeper, more restful sleep, and it’s now an absolute bedtime ritual to have a novel on hand in my dim-lit room.

When calming my nervous system, I’m not looking for material that I need to focus really hard on to understand its contents.

Oftentimes, in novels the stories flow so seamlessly with the characters and plot that you don’t have to always expend a lot of brain power to focus. You can drift off to sleep without missing much.

I feel as though when I dig into the science literature or entrepreneurial genres, it activates a part of my masculine energy for achievement. There is a time and place for these things, as I of course love these categories dearly, but it’s important to understand the energies these things carry.

This isn’t necessarily the case for everyone but for me, oftentimes it is.

A caveat; I feel the same way about social media activating a masculine energy within me in the underlying to achieve and compete.

When I read novels, all of that ceases to exist.

Yoga, meditation, a massage, or a nice walk. These are the things in my life that would provide me silence and quiet, without scrolling my phone trying to multitask.

Reading has come to the top of that list, because while you are indulged in a story, it provides a peace and introspective setting to learn and understand yourself maybe a bit better.