Detox & Withdrawal...Re-membering how to Read

I’m struggling to focus enough to read these days. Do you ever find that to be true for you?

Brian and I are off into our two week, family-vacation-family adventure, finally getting to see and relax with his family in MN, my family in OR, just the two of us on the coast for three days, my family in OR, his family in MN. We then drive home with our heart-dog Nala, arriving into Ohio in time for me to tend to responsibilities in the DMin program at United.

In this fashion, it doesn’t look very restful, does it? But it’s actually a perfect setting for both of us, struggling to unplug from a fairly intensive summer of B’s travel, my summer semester work, a dance with covid (for him), my family reunion, and then some church drama. We’ve fantasized about going to a resort for 5-6 days, forced to do nothing but sit in the (shade)/sun, but I honestly don’t think we’d handle it well at the moment. Maybe once we’ve had opportunity to be with family, sleep a lot, unplug a little in these travel days… And we’re looking forward to downtime, away, with family. Since both our families are not local to us, we don’t get to simply hangout with either as much as we might like.

All as it is supposed to be, in the divine order of things.

For the very first time, given the way air-travel is these days, I did not pack books and tarot cards and whatever else I always feel I need to have with me when I’m relaxing. My bag has my computer (for writing), my iPad (for Kindle), and my small kindle (for reading). I did bring one journal with some pens, but I’ve written by hand less and less these days.

Our Kindle account is a small library, of course. I simply rarely read my Kindle, preferring the feel of the books in my hands. Last night, I made sure to download the Ink and Honey novel I’m re-reading, as well as a couple others that I’ve dipped into from time to time. Surprisingly, I found myself in the memoir of Jane Goodall, Reason for Hope. In the introduction, she named others asking her how she could continue to have hope amidst the civic and earth challenges we face today. “This book is to address those questions,” she concluded. So…I found myself engaged in her early life in England, curious and beginning to rest.

Until I dipped into Instagram to connect with various CrossFit athletes I follow there. I’ve enjoyed seeing their various observations, images, celebrations.

Which then makes it harder for my brain to ease into reading. I get the point from that documentary, The Social Dilemma. I have to detox and go through withdrawal every week after the CrossFit Games.

Time to take the apps off my phone again, methinks. Sigh.