Reading Fact

A long time ago, I was a graduate student who had to read hundreds of pages a week in assigned readings.

That was on top of listening assignments (music degree and all that) as well as score study. It was a lot. There was probably more paper in my bag than a letter carrier would have on a given day. I would read at every break. Any moment that I wasn’t in a practice room or at work or in front of a class I was reading. And I chose none of those books.

I can still remember being out of school and going to a bookstore for the first time and being able to pick the book that I wanted to read. It was exhilarating!

But that feelings was NOTHING when compared to the first time I was slogging my way through a book and realized that I could just put it down. Or toss it. I didn’t ever have to come back to it. All of those completionist urges? Gone. I was, indeed, My Own Boss™.

I felt that this week as I was reading a book that just wasn’t hitting. I have a lot of other books waiting to be read. So that one will go back to the library and I’ll toss it on the Did Not Finish list (which is pretty short).

That feels like real freedom.