I am participating in the 31 Days of Free Writes October challenge. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. (Confession: I can’t resist spell-checking!)
Today’s prompt: Read
I worry about myself and reading.
I *adore* reading and am a tireless advocate for reading and readers … especially freedom to read. Banned Books Week is one of my favorite advocacy events of the year (just sad it has to be a thing).
But it takes me forever to get through a traditional book on paper (not the case with audiobooks).
I remember reading a Harvard Business Review article years ago, long before I had a smartphone, by a man who said his brain had been scrambled by his device ….. meaning he had gotten so addicted to taking “digital sips” of information that he had become utterly unable of paying attention to the traditional form of books/information.
Has that become me?
If so, what can I do about it?
When I did my six-hour silent retreat last year, I took a book and made it through the whole thing (granted, it wasn’t an extremely LONG book, but I read it cover to cover over the course of the retreat (shout out to Fr. James Martin SJ for a great book).
I keep thinking I need to detach in that same way (as I did at the retreat), just me and a book (no phone, no interruptions) … but for longer than six hours … to rewire my brain.
I think writing is the lifeline between my brain and the word — thank goodness for writing.
Maybe the next thing I need to read is a directory of retreat centers (although given the way our lives go these days, I may need to find an alternative way to rewire my brain ….. right here at home.)
Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.
I’m a reader too and love it. But I also find it harder to read. I’m trying to be better about being more intentional about reading.
Me too. More often than not, I fall asleep rather than reading. But for what it’s worth I do spend all day reading for work, for the most part — not the same but maybe that is what is sapping up some of my brain cells (?).