Hey!
So recently, i got back into a REALLY old habit i abandoned, reading ofcourse.
It was so long ago and i kind of regret not doing it for so long anymore and just letting it wander out of my life. But hey, atleast im trying again.
But, alot of things had changed. One of these is my mind ofcourse. In alot of negative ways aswell. I struggle with OCD for years now. Only somewhere this year i spoke about it and just told who i wanted to and got help. I still struggle everyday but its a long journey.
And with that, my mind is just very full throughout the day. Stress from others things aswell and not just OCD, etc. So i am very inclined to get distracted because that’s just something that I have made a habit of all of this time.
And as you can guess, i never had this before i dropped reading. I am just getting started and bought a couple of books and manga. Overall its going decent to focus, but occasionally, i find myself “pusing/fighting” my brain or something to just keep reading and actually focus on what i read, instead of wandering off and thinking about something else. I also have the possibilty of intrusive thoughts coming up, but fortunately they aren’t bothering while i read.
I do have the “feeling” that they want to come up tho and it’s just that i am more focused on reading so i would care less instead of freak out internally.
Maybe there’s other things that can even help more with having a calm mind. Maybe reading will train my mind again, i don’t know. Someone had this aswell? Would like to hear your story and advice if you have.
***And by the way, should i just randomly journal or something? Grab a notebook and just start writing everyday/(some time period) and just write whatever’s on my mind? I have noticed that i don’t really get things “out”, instead i keep it in me and bottle up aswell 90% of the time.***
by throwaway6894372894
2 Comments
I have ADHD, so this happens to me sometimes as well. Regular breaks help. I usually read a chapter, do something else for 30 minutes, then read a chapter again. Sometimes I’m super engrossed in a book and won’t put it down for hours. Other times, I need the breaks. If you can’t stay focused, put it down. You could also try reading music; music that fits the theme of the book. There are plenty of them on youtube.
ADHD mind person here… I keep track of the number of books I read each year and the number shot way up twice: the first is the year I got a Kindle and the second is when I didn’t go on reddit or social media for the first half of the year.
It’s worth trying some “tricks” like getting a Kindle or listening to the audiobook while you’re reading a book. There were books I had failed to read multiple times in a physical version that I was able to easily read on Kindle.