I Read One (1) Book in 2023

I Read One (1) Book in 2023

Which is a 200% increase from the zero (0) I read in 2022!

I’m really easy to convince about life-style changes. It literally just takes one person to claim that if you don’t sleep better you’ll have a heart attack at thirty, and I’m all, “Oh beans! Working on that, thanks king.”

This happened with reading recently. It was some post that said something like: “If you don’t read and broaden your knowledge and imagination at an earlier age your brain’s neuroplasticity goes bad”.

I was all, “Oh man! Gotta go fast!”

So yeah I’m gonna try harder to read and evidently I’m going to tell you how that’s going.

The Conflict

I’m pretty complacent, interest-wise. This includes music tastes, decorations in living areas, restaurant choices, communication styles. This is likely because, as a neurodivergent individual, I’ve been trained to consciously and subconsciously feign genuine interest in whatever the neurotypicals in the room are into, so I can blend in. It could also just be because I’m a lazy f*ck.

This habit has bled into my reading habits. It’s difficult to be interested in a book when I feel like I don’t have a choice in what I’m reading or how I feel about it. It’s harder when that lack of choice is an illusion I created.

My ego was the second leading cause of my reading diversion. I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy another writer’s work for a while. There was always some sort of internal dissatisfaction that I’d project onto the content I was consuming.

“Why tell the story this way?” I’d demand. “Why them?” I’d think. “They’ve got to be nepo babies,” I’d conspire. Which is conceited and unhelpful. And embarrassing. And also very hilarious.

Writing is a lot of work; creating is a miracle of life. It is worth celebrating when someone rises from the muck to do it.

The past four months, I’ve hit the hard reset button on my attitude towards– well, a lot of things — but mainly reading.

The Trying Part

I legitimately had to retrain my brain to read. I’ve reached out to many Good Reader friends for advice. I’ve learned to award myself with a little ittle sticker on my bookshelf with each finished book.

I also figured out a real weird thing that works for me, where I must have 3 books going at a time. I don’t know why. I think this may be another ’tism thing. It’s always 3 very-different-in-specific-ways books:

1. A nonfiction book about someone else’s life experiences, circa “Unmasking Autism” by Devon Price
2. A writing/creativity book, circa “The Creative Act” by Rick Rubin
3. Something Fun & Zesty, for fun and for zest, circa “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune

And my main drive right now is just, discovering what I’m interested in. It’s that simple. And that complicated, due to the complacency mentioned earlier.

I love fictional worlds. I love the calm ease and total envelopment that reading a book brings. I love new perspectives and new character crushes and new dazzling ideas.

I’d like to read more, because it just makes me happier.

Your Tho(ugh)ts

Anywho. Are you trying to read more? Do you have any tips? What are you reading? Do you want to read a book together? Like, at the same time, over each other’s shoulder, in each other’s ear, switching who’s reading aloud sentence-by-sentence like we’re in sophomore English class? N, no? Okay……me neither……………..

~

For my next post (probably like, in 4-5 days) I’m going to try to find a fun fact to share with you, as a little treat. I’ll do a real deep dive. If you have any suggestions, hmu