Dear Je,
For the past few months, I couldn’t enjoy literature nor I have any interest over it. It is not expressed in a comparative manner, compared to the past. I just don’t feel anything, I thought that maybe my approach to it differed and yet I understood that it didn’t. I don’t get the pleasure of reading anymore nor could I enjoy or feel any literary work.
Because of this, I started to explore other fields to seek where my interest lies at. But I sadly couldn’t find it, I committed myself to literature again as I still have the feeling somewhere that this is where I belong.
My question is, is this normal or are tyere any ways to overcome this?
Thanks,
Insol
Dear Insol,
First, you have to understand what reading is. It is not an easy activity. In fact, it is not a single activity. Reading involves three distinct tasks that you engage in simultaneously. First, you are observing some signs called letters and making them as language. Then you are creating meaning out of it. Finally, you are developing your imagination on it. An adept reader engages in all three of these activities simultaneously. So, it appears to be one activity.
Reading is the toughest mental activity human beings have developed over centuries. It needs special training and continuous practice. People with poor reading training often perform these three activities separately, which contributes to their slow reading speed. If you lose touch with reading, you lose this talent, this makes reading three separate activities. Thus, it becomes a tedious job. You lose your patience. You can’t concentrate. You can’t understand the content. Generally, the flow and totality of the content cannot be observed by you, only titbits exist in your memory. This is a kind of paralisis in thought.
The treatment of paralisis requires severe training. Engage your brain in purposeful, continuous exercises. Fix a regular time and place for reading, and read at least one hour every day. 100 hours of reading will bring your talent back. 1000 hours of reading will make you an efficient reader. Actually, we are conducting courses for this.
je
