The struggles of a slow reader.
Today is the Sabbath. It's a day of rest. Why did I put unnecessary pressure on myself to try to finish this book today? I can finish it tomorrow. Or Monday. I can hit my goals and meet my set schedule without have to run through my weekends, my day of rest.
There are these two eBooks that I'm reading. One is not grabbing me and I've accepted that I'll finish it whenever. I'll go at my snail's pace with that book. But last night, before I went to sleep, I picked the other book back up. The first three chapters were a wordy chore. But the story progressed and I'm interested and more so than not, invested in the story, wherever it may go. With my interest having peaked during that evening read, I said to myself, before going to sleep, that I'd finish several chapters (if not all of them) in the morning.
My inner monologue went something like "Maybe I can finish the book in a day. If I read this book now, I can pick up the next one all the sooner. I can write that review that much quicker. I'll have time to do everything else so much sooner!"
So morning comes along and I start reading. On the other hand I like to listen to music, and I watch a lot of YouTube, Netflix, TV shows, etcera just about every day. No surprise then that I'm reading and clicking back and forth between Adobe Digital Editions and my Chrome browser. Not that that's the takeaway here.
Splitting my time, my attention, wouldn't be an issue if I read faster. I checked the table of contents, I saw that this is a 42 chapter book. EBooks go fast anyway, so devouring the book, theoretically, wouldn't be a problem. But there's one big elephant in the room. I'm a slow reader.
Unless I'm very invested I'll read the words and often hover over them, re-reading over and over again. I take distractions away and still the problem remains. I bargain with myself. "If I read X chapters, then I get to watch one video." Or "I'll give myself a music break after reaching Y point in the book." Even when I'm heavily invested my mind wanders off on tangents. Sometimes I'll look up a word and my train of thought goes off the rails from there. It might be a full half hour (sometimes longer) before I get back to the text at hand.
So what's the answer? What's my solution? Maybe if conditions were ideal and there was a quiet room or a quiet corner and I had a physical copy, maybe then things would go better. But this is 2019, and the internet and through it the world are at my disposal!
I've never been a fast, voracious reader. I need to accept that. And so acceptance is the answer. Flexible goals are the answer. Time management is an answer. Forgiving myself for not adhering to arbitrary schedules I set for myself is the answer.
These chapters aren't that long and it's more than possible the next chapter I read will be the race car I take through those that remain. But instead of feeling guilt I will forgive myself today, right now, and I will go with the flow of this brisk fall weekend. I'll take each chapter one at a time. When you can enjoy something, time flies. Here's to hoping time flies before Tuesday.
There are these two eBooks that I'm reading. One is not grabbing me and I've accepted that I'll finish it whenever. I'll go at my snail's pace with that book. But last night, before I went to sleep, I picked the other book back up. The first three chapters were a wordy chore. But the story progressed and I'm interested and more so than not, invested in the story, wherever it may go. With my interest having peaked during that evening read, I said to myself, before going to sleep, that I'd finish several chapters (if not all of them) in the morning.
My inner monologue went something like "Maybe I can finish the book in a day. If I read this book now, I can pick up the next one all the sooner. I can write that review that much quicker. I'll have time to do everything else so much sooner!"
So morning comes along and I start reading. On the other hand I like to listen to music, and I watch a lot of YouTube, Netflix, TV shows, etcera just about every day. No surprise then that I'm reading and clicking back and forth between Adobe Digital Editions and my Chrome browser. Not that that's the takeaway here.
Splitting my time, my attention, wouldn't be an issue if I read faster. I checked the table of contents, I saw that this is a 42 chapter book. EBooks go fast anyway, so devouring the book, theoretically, wouldn't be a problem. But there's one big elephant in the room. I'm a slow reader.
Unless I'm very invested I'll read the words and often hover over them, re-reading over and over again. I take distractions away and still the problem remains. I bargain with myself. "If I read X chapters, then I get to watch one video." Or "I'll give myself a music break after reaching Y point in the book." Even when I'm heavily invested my mind wanders off on tangents. Sometimes I'll look up a word and my train of thought goes off the rails from there. It might be a full half hour (sometimes longer) before I get back to the text at hand.
So what's the answer? What's my solution? Maybe if conditions were ideal and there was a quiet room or a quiet corner and I had a physical copy, maybe then things would go better. But this is 2019, and the internet and through it the world are at my disposal!
I've never been a fast, voracious reader. I need to accept that. And so acceptance is the answer. Flexible goals are the answer. Time management is an answer. Forgiving myself for not adhering to arbitrary schedules I set for myself is the answer.
These chapters aren't that long and it's more than possible the next chapter I read will be the race car I take through those that remain. But instead of feeling guilt I will forgive myself today, right now, and I will go with the flow of this brisk fall weekend. I'll take each chapter one at a time. When you can enjoy something, time flies. Here's to hoping time flies before Tuesday.
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