10 Reasons Why TBR Piles Are Stressful

I thought of this post idea when I was fiddling around with my own TBR pile back in July. You can see my posts on that month's TBR at the following links: July 2021 TBR and July 2021 Reading Wrap Up. I was deciding what books I couldn't get to or just didn't want to read.

As I mentioned, I was messing around with the books I put up on my July 2021 TBR. I then started to think of the ones I'd include in my August 2021 TBR. And it struck me: TBR piles are stressful. As with any feeling, stress is relative from person to person. However, no matter who you are, TBRs can cause some amount of stress. And I don't see book bloggers, BookTubers, or Bookstagrammers talking about this much.

So I'm going to talk about it today. Here are 10 reasons why TBR piles are stressful.

Reason 1: Life happens.

It doesn't matter if it's a new workload, starting a new school/job, moving, or any other reason. Sometimes, life just happens. And when it really happens, we lose time that we could have spent reading and whittling down our TBR pile.

Reason 2: They set a goal you "have" to reach.

Many readers set monthly, or even weekly, TBR piles. As a result, there's an inherent goal within that TBR. It sets a subconscious finish line that, if you haven't reached by a certain date, then you're "behind on your reading." Which, when really thought about, you're never "behind" on your reading, which is why it's in quotes.

Reason 3: There's a deadline you "have" to meet.

This is similar to Reason 2. When readers set monthly TBR lists, they want to get all the books on that specific TBR read by the end of the month. This sets an inherent goal and "deadline" to meet. However, when you think about this, you don't need to read every book that's ever come out, whether backlisted or recently released, by the end of a certain year.

Reason 4: Mental, emotional, and physical health get in the way sometimes.

This reason does play into Reason 1 a little bit, but it does deserve its own little segment. It doesn't matter why we may not be doing well mentally, emotionally, or physically. Sometimes, we're in a mental or emotional slump, or we're going through an emotional time in our lives, or we get sick. And that can knock out our want to read for any amount of time.

Reason 5: Reading funks happen to anyone and everyone.

Similarly with Reason 4, this does play into Reason 1, but it also deserved its own little segment. I've gone through plenty of reading funks (or reading slumps), and so have many other readers. These tend to happen when we've been reading and reading and reading without much of a break. And when they happen, we still want to read and check more books off of our TBR, but we can't, for whatever reason, due to the reading funk.

Reason 6: You may not be enjoying any of the books you put on that TBR pile.

Not enjoying or liking a book happens. Sometimes, you may even hate a book. And if you're not enjoying any books on your TBR, this can stress you out. You want to enjoy them, but for whatever reason, you're not. And there can be a variety of reasons why.

Reason 7: Even if you did enjoy one or two books on a specific TBR pile, sometimes the ones you didn't enjoy outweigh the ones you did enjoy.

Let's say you enjoyed 1 book out of the 4 you read in a certain month. That means 1/4 of the books you read, or 25%, you enjoyed, and 3/4, or 75%, you didn't enjoy. This, similarly to Reason 6, can stress you out because you want to enjoy every book on your TBR, but you aren't.

Reason 8: The lengths of different books can affect your reading time.

Shorter books won't take you as much time to read as longer books will. As a result, you may spend more time on a book than you originally anticipated. And this leads to stress, especially when it's close to the end of the month, because you were hoping to have it done by a certain point.

Reason 9: You feel like you have to be reading the same amount of pages, chapters, books, etc. as another reader in your life or social circle.

This is a common theme in the bookish community. You see other readers reading however many books per year, month, or even week, and you think that you need to keep up with them. However, this can lead to reading funks, as mentioned in Reason 5. Additionally, it can stress you out even more if you're not used to reading that much in a short amount of time.

Reason 10: There's the pressure to read a book simply because it's hyped or because someone you know said it was good.

Even though a book's hyped or your friend/family member said it was good doesn't mean you'll like it. However, because it seems like everyone else is reading it, you may feel pressure to add the book to your own TBR, despite however many books are already there. There is also the possibility that you won't enjoy the book.