Book still to finish

Finnish version of Lord of the rings book
Photo: Mia 2026

My dad bought me the Finnish version of the book, The Lord of the Rings, for Christmas. I don’t remember what year it was, but it was years ago. It was probably the time they did a movie version of the trilogy. He read the book in one night.

Me? I still haven’t finished reading it. I tried, but then I found it long-winded, and I stopped. I tried again once, but I still didn’t finish it. Now, years later, I’ve started to read it again. Recently, I’ve tried to read one chapter each day, but it’s slow. I just don’t have the patience to read thick books. I prefer movies. After you seen the Lord of the Rings movies several times, reading the book isn’t very tempting. I’m in The Two Towers book right now. This time, I will finish the book. No matter how long it takes.

I have books that I got from my mother and a few books from my cousin. Those were children’s books, such as stories by the Brothers Grimm (Hans and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty) and H.C. Andersen (The Ugly Duckling). I got the book ‘Heidi. Courage Mountain’ from my mother. It was based on a Charlie Sheen movie from 1989 with the same name. I’ve read that book a few times.

I used to tell my dad about what I had dreamt about during the night, so he bought me a book about dreams and what they mean. It’s a bit of fun, and I don’t take the book seriously. It’s interesting to know what the dreams might mean. My dreams can be weird sometimes. The book has different words, for example, if you dream about a person or a place, then it says what it might mean.

I don’t buy books; I go to the library. I own books that I have read a few times. They’re mostly biographies and books about the movies, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I have a library card, and I have read more books than I have in my adult life. I don’t read thick books. I prefer books that are easy to read and short. Recently, I’ve been reading Finnish comic strip books.

I have a bookshelf, but it’s more of a storage for other things than books.

Split in two or more pieces

Photo by Tamanna Rumee on Pexels.com

Ever thought you’ve taken too much to handle at once? That there isn’t enough time in a day to do things? You wish you had more time. You almost need to split yourself into two or more pieces to do it all.

Sometimes, I think I have too many things to think about and don’t have time to concentrate on all of them. I’ve had so many other things on my mind lately that I have had no time to blog. In addition to personal things, I have different social media accounts on Instagram to keep up with. Before, I had two, but now I have three for various purposes.

I use one in English for personal use. The other two are in Finnish and are for the graphic design and photography business. A few weeks ago, I started a faceless marketing account where I would sell digital products. It makes me think I took too many at once. One of the accounts doesn’t get the attention it deserves. I’ve been focusing on the new account recently. I was tired of waiting for someone to get in touch on the older business account. I found an easier way to make money than trying to find clients. I don’t really want to do what many other graphic designers do, like visual identity. Actually, I’m split between what I want to do because I want to do many things. I’ve got to get some income somewhere, so why not try to sell digital products? I want to use my graphic design and photography skills to help people.

If you organise your time, you can get more things done during the day. The main thing is that you make time to relax. What you didn’t have time to do today, you can continue tomorrow. There is a time and place for everything.

Learning is a marathon, not a sprint

study learn know book cover
Made with Canva

Remember when you were a kid and wanted to learn quickly? You wanted things to go smoothly, and you had no patience at all. Learning is a marathon, not a sprint. Most of us want to learn and expect to be experts at once. But life doesn’t work that way. You need to take time to learn, and that’s what’s so fascinating about life. You live and learn all the time and don’t graduate from life.

I love learning new things and even things I already know. There is no harm in repeating what you learned in the past because people have different teaching styles and opinions. You might even get excited again about something you didn’t like when you were younger. In 3rd grade, we had to learn to play the fipple flute (also called recorder). I wasn’t excited to learn the instrument then. But when I got older, I took it up again. I taught myself to play music notes, and now I can play songs by heart. I even learned to play ‘Soft Kitty‘ (the song Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory sang). I just played with the flute some tunes, and then suddenly there the song was. I can play a tune by listening to the sound, and there’s a song. The instrument is easier to play than the piano. I’ve learned the easier music notes, and on the Duolingo app, you can learn music notes on the piano. I’m also learning Norwegian there. It sounds like Swedish but is spelled differently, so it isn’t so hard to learn for me.

I’ve been learning social media marketing lately, which is why I haven’t blogged as often recently. Writing in Finnish has been challenging because I’ve been writing in English so much. I get more written in English than in Finnish. I’m better at writing fiction than about real life. I’m like that little kid who wants to learn, but the results take ages. It feels like I’m wasting my time trying to write something and not getting anything in return. It makes me doubt that I will ever make it as an entrepreneur or that I can’t do anything right. Or that I’m too dull and no one cares. Learning to be patient and not giving up despite feeling disappointed. You also need some luck to make it. But the most important thing is that you learn things you want to learn and not what others want you to. Life is much more fun when you do.