Are you a writer, a reader, a commenter or just a watcher?
At one point I was not able to watch television because it was overwhelming. So I took to reading books. It’s not that I’ve never read before, it’s just that what I learned was by reading I got the time and the space I needed. I found it incredibly helpful, and when there were detailed descriptions of the scene or the context, it allowed me to take time to visualize what I was reading in any form I chose. This was particularly helpful in works of fiction such as “Where The Crawdads Sing”, which was a brilliant book and then a very disappointing film. In fact, I didn’t even finish the film because it couldn’t begin to portray the depth of the story.
Another example is “Lessons in Chemistry”. It’s such a fun and funny book with so much nuance and original characters, including a dog and a young child who were my favorites. The writing is exceptional and the story is both entertaining and important and I highly recommend it. Once again, the Apple TV production of it, while good, just does not begin to capture what the book portrays.
Now that said, there’s also nothing like a great movie for pure entertainment, to sit back, relax, consume and let the director tell the story for you. Great cinematography can do the work of visualizing for you. It’s perfect for documentaries, or other genres like action and of course, sci-fi, fantasies not to mention just good old fashioned escapism.
So books now have a very important place for me, even as a now extremely slow reader. In fact the pace is actually critical to the richness of the experience for me. Whereas I used to speed read all my work, I’ve learned to slow down and read for life.
It’s also taught me the importance of writing, which I do every day, even if just in my journal like this. Mostly I do it for myself but I’ve also realized the importance of sharing it to get feedback, learn and of course hopefully inspire others to find their passions.
What’s your experience? Would you like to write it or just comment?
