My Very First Love

What a relief to have a goal that is easy to write about!  Whew...thank you, Self, for giving me something to write about that doesn't require so much vulnerability and, as my tech support dude at work would say, "the feels."  Goal #3 is my very most favorite and it's because it involves one of my most very favorite things to do - Read.

Love at First Sight

I don't recall a time in my life when I couldn't read.  I'm almost 100% certain that I was born with a novel in my tiny infant hands.  My mom says that I have been reading independently since I was three years old and, even though she also told me that my pet bird was actually buried in the Princeton Cemetery (lie! and I forgive you), I believe it.  Reading has been my favorite hobby, my greatest escape, and my number one way to figure stuff out.

It has always boggled my mind when I meet people who don't love to read.  I view them with more than a little bit of suspicion.  I mean, how can you not read for fun?  How can you not love the smell of a brand new book?  How can you read the ending of A Tale of Two Cities and not be completely and hopelessly overtaken by emotion when considering the great sacrifice Sydney Carton makes? And how do you fall asleep at night if you don't read for at least 30 minutes beforehand?  I'm just not sure what to make of people who don't read.  

*swoon*

When I was younger, I was a little bit compulsive when it came to reading.  However, adolescence and social emotional development have allowed me to make tremendous strides in that area.  For example, I now know that when I invite people over to my house, they actually want to spend time with me and not sit on opposite sides of the couch while reading books.  Also, it's okay to read a snippet of an article out of a magazine that someone placed in their bathroom, but it is not okay to bring a novel in with me and read several chapters while locked in the loo.  Not that I ever did either of those things or anything....  Okay, I totally did.  But, I've figured out how to embrace my love of reading and not be weird.  Growing older has some silver linings.

The Reading Rut

In the last few years or so, I've been in a reading rut.  You know hindsight and its darn perfect vision.  I look back and wonder if that should have been the first hint that my life was going to unravel.  I still read every day, but most of the time it is by the glow of my iPhone and my reading material consists of status updates and tweets and quick blogs.  Not bad stuff at all.  I like reading status updates, tweets make me laugh and keep me informed, and I'd be a hypocrite criticizing the value of blogs while writing a blog.  But nothing compares to diving into a book and being transported to a different time or place.  The truth is that anxiety and spiritual unrest have incapacitated my brain and it has interfered with my ability to just.sit.down.and.read.  I can't maintain the focus or attention to get through even one chapter sometimes.  

My bedside table crowded with books, journals, and devotionals.

I also think that part of my problem is that I'm having a hard time finding stuff to read.  I read quickly (usually) and so I've burned through a lot of books in my lifetime.  I do love re-reading books.  I'm pretty sure I've read the Anne of Green Gables series at least a billion times or so (Gilbert - please be my boyfriend).  But, I've been longing for new books that really grabbed my attention and put me in that trance where all that mattered was what was unfolding on the pages of the book in my hands.  

A New Chapter: Reading for Pleasure and Growth

It is definitely time I do a better job of nurturing this very huge part of what makes me Sara.  If you ask anyone who knew me when I was a child, probably the very first thing they would cite as my most noteworthy quality (behind being kind of sensitive and pesky) was that I loved to read and was a voracious reader.  I. Am. A. Reader. So, I am going to make sure I read everyday.  It will be easy because I already read every day, but the new rule will be that I need to read a physical book. I thought about making an exception for my kindle, but it felt like a slippery slope so physical books it is.  

My current reading list includes (I usually have multiple books going and I often read the ending first - don't judge, it's just how I roll):

Wild by Cheryl Strayed
A Bone to Pick by Mark Bittman
The Book of Love: Improvisations on a Crazy Little Thing by Roger Rosenblatt

I just finished:
For the Love by Jen Hatmaker

I have the following books on hold at the Library:
7 by Jen Hatmaker
Whole30: The 30 Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom by Melissa Hartwig

What books are you reading?  Do you have any books you'd like to recommend?  I love reading the most, but talking about reading is a very close second in terms of favorite things.  If you want to read any of the books I've mentioned and talk about them either in person or online, let me know!  

Hopefully yours,
~Sara Renee