Okay… so I won’t bore you with the lack of communication and email access this week over here because… as I have said… it is all part of the journey that I cannot control so I will shed some tears and give you some ‘boo-hoo’s and now that that is done… here we go.
Reading.
I just finished a very good book this past week… titled “Leave The World Behind” written by Rumaan Alam… and I closed the last page and found myself overcome with thoughts and questions and curiosity and introspection and examination of our world. I was also hit with the realization that reading is such a powerful tool. I have read exponentially more books in the past 3 years than I have read in my entire life prior to arriving at T.I and it has opened up my mind and my thoughts in a way that I would have never expected. My vocabulary has expanded… the way that I think about situations and navigate conversations has evolved… the internal questions that I ponder on a daily basis are more complex and interesting. And… overall… my life has been enhanced intellectually when everything else in my life has been immensely diminished. Which got me thinking…
Imagine if every time… or even every other time… we are bored out there in the real world and unconsciously open up that app to start scrolling… we pick up a book or open the kindle app instead…. and read. I have to imagine that this would benefit our lives in ways that we cannot even comprehend without experiencing it’s glory firsthand. Then I started thinking about our kids… my boys are 4 and 7 years old and I am petrified that they are growing up in a world where reading and critically thinking is not a priority. Their lives’ revolve around screens and movies and YouTube and “watching” whether that be on their iPad or the TV and while there are certainly some benefits to enjoying visual art… I feel like the lost art of the word is massively detrimental. And on top of that… there is that small fact that we do still need our kids to learn how to read and it seems that this simple… umm REALLY important… fact is being left in the dust when the iPad is easier to hand them.
My time is unfortunately quickly dwindling on here so I will close with yet another challenge… pick up a book. You know how there is a trend going on called “Dry January”… where we abstain from drinking alcohol for a month. Try “Dry February”… where you either take the month off of social media and use the time you would have spent scrolling… reading. Or even “Partially Dry February”… not cold turkey but just less… just a little bit… and see how it feels. I have to believe that you will begin to experience intellectual life in the way that I have discovered it’s immense possibilities through the many books that I have consumed over these few years.
And if I am wrong… February is a short month and your beloved social media will be right there waiting for you in 28 quick sunsets.
Stay Healthy. Stay Active. Pick Up a book and more importantly… read it with your kids!
And I couldn’t sign off without a quote from the book that I found to be fitting in the time we current find ourselves… a time of devastation and fresh starts… a time of uncertainty and personal decision… and a time to look within and directly around us to discover what genuine matters in life…
“Home was just where you were, in the end. It was just the place that you found yourself. You demanded answers, but the universe refused. Comfort and safety were just an illusion. Money meant nothing. All that matters at all was this… people, in the same place, together.”