Where I’m Writing From eli.cranor@gmail.com January 1, 2023 Eli Cranor is an Arkansas novelist whose debut novel, Don’t Know Tough, is available wherever books are sold. Don’t Know Tough made @USATODAYBooks’s “Best of 2022” list and the @nytimes “Best Crime Fiction” for 2022 Cranor can be reached using the “Contact” page at elicranor.com and found on Twitter @elicranor

I’m writing from 2022.

It’s been quite the year, but I’m already looking forward to 2023, the new year where you find yourself currently reading this column.

I’m betting many of you have already made your resolutions. Maybe you’ve even completed your first workout before picking up the paper (or tablet), but I’d like to propose an extra resolution.

Read!

Yes, I realize I may be preaching to the choir here, so let me be more specific: read 30 minutes before bed every night.

If you do, it will change your life. Promise.

Over the last few years, I’ve been asked to come speak to students about the power of reading. These are kids ages 8-18. I take them through a Letterman-style “Top 10” list, highlighting the benefits of reading.

The students stare back at me glassy eyed, all the way up until I mention their sleeping habits. Their eyes dart side to side, casing their classmates when I ask how many of them take a device to bed.

Dear reader, you would be shocked by the number of hands that go up at this point in the presentation. From what I’ve seen, over ninety percent of the elementary school kids are staring at screens before bedtime. It’s no wonder they can’t sleep.

I was first alerted to this problem by my wife. She’s a pediatric nurse practitioner. She came home one evening, telling me about how many children she sees on a weekly basis who suffer from insomnia.

I couldn’t believe it. Kids? What the . . . Why?

“Screens.”

My wife went on to explain (in medical terminology way over my head) that screens make our brains speed up. All those flashing lights and moving pictures — that’s the last thing we need to see before we close our eyes for the night.

Sleep is crucial for children, but it’s also important for you. All of us could stand to benefit from quality rest, and 30 minutes of reading is my New Year’s prescription.

Reading soothes the mind. It’s relaxing, a leisurely activity, but it’s also important for the future of our world.

We are living in an unprecedented age of polarization. You don’t have to look far to see the division tearing our country apart. When I look ahead to 2023, and all the years that are to come, I’m scared.

Fearful of how far we can get from each other before there’s no coming back.

People hate what they do not understand. They’re frightened by the unknown. But books can transport us. Books allow us to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, if you’ll pardon me the cliché.

And if we do — if we really allow ourselves the time and space to imagine what it’s like on the other side — then we’ll be one step closer to healing our fractured world.

Books are the medicine we so desperately need. Good books. Real stories about people who are different from us. This goes both ways. People on both sides of the aisle, both ends of the political spectrum, need to try and understand those who think and live differently from them.

Not all of us have the ability or the fortitude to seek out and strike up these conversations, but anyone can check out a book from a nearby library.

30 minutes of reading every night for the next year.

That’s my challenge to you.

If you accept it, who knows, the world might be a better place in 2024.