Has anyone experienced this? I am 13 years sober. Almost immediately from the time I got sober I started to lose my ability to read books in a relaxed carefree manner. This does not affect me if I am reading at a meeting or just reading an e-mail at work, etc. But when I sit down to read for enjoyment, I seem to sometimes not be able to finish the paragraph or sentence, in other words, I feel I can not move on until I have fully "got it".
I am affected by this sometimes worse than others, there are times when I have little trouble and can still get lost in a book, but more often than not, I have to work through the pages. Being a heavy reader of novels and histories, this is frustrating. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there any help? Why did it happen? Why immediately when I got sober?
Yes. That happened to me. It couldn't read a novel for about 2 years. It still don't read like I used to. Granted, If was not reading many novels during my last few years drinking...but prior to that, I'm would get much more into books. If I think positively about it, I think it's because I used to read to escape reality and now I don't need to escape like that. I also don't watch TV much. I also am quick to fall asleep on tv, movies, and books since sober. I guess my mind races a bit still and when I focus on something simple, I go to sleep. In some ways this has been a useful tool because I only have to start reading for a little bit to sleep and that includes on planes and such.
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I also have some trouble with the moving on until I fully get the sentence too. Again, a trade off. I have more attention to detail I guess but obsessively so at times. By the way, welcome 7! Hope you stick around here and join our MIP family.
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Oh 'WOW' 7thnight, ... interesting topic ... oh, and welcome to MIP, we're glad to have you with us ...
I was an avid reader also before sobriety ... besides reading an average of 2 to 3 novels a week, for years, ... okay, well, until my drinking got so bad, ... I read every AA book published back in the mid-nineties ... plus I had 12 daily meditation books I went through ... (this is while I was trying to fig'r this whole AA thing out after my 1st rehab ... I really wanted there to be another way, but there wasn't, not that would work for me ...) ... anyway, I became so caught up in working the program and going to meetings, after my 4th rehab, it left me with less time to read ... plus, my mind just would not focus on a book ... not for pleasure anyway ...
THEN I had heart trouble and that got me on medication that causes me to fall asleep damn near anywhere any time ... THEN I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and put on a CPAP machine to breathe at night ... BOY, did that change things ... (I'm 61 by the way) ... I stopped snoring, get great sleep, AND I had more energy AND I don't fell asleep anywhere I sit down now ... but still, I haven't gotten back to my old reading habits ... haven't really tried ...
Gave about 12 to 15 heavy boxes of books to Goodwill before we moved ... but I still wound up with about 12 boxes of books ... if I could just get back in the mood, I'd have to find a way to finance new books if I ever went back to reading like I once did, LOL .... it can get rather expensive ... and yes, I did shop Goodwill for books that I hadn't read (great place to find books if you ask me) ... and yes, I did the library thing too ... but then I'd find an author I liked that would keep coming out with new books I couldn't wait to read ... then I'd have to buy them, LOL ...
It's been a few years now since I just picked up a novel to enjoy ... I think the 'Hunger Games' series of novels were the last for me ...
I never equated getting sober to the lack of interest in reading ... huh, you may have something there ??? ... ... ... I need to try a book since getting the CPAP thingy and see if I fall asleep immediately now or not ... actually, you've got me curious about the whole thing now ... but I have a lot of priorities right now that if I got to reading like I used to, then that would be a bad thing ... cause a good book would keep me from doing the things during the day that I needed to be doing, I'd read instead, LOL ...
Glad to have you here and God Bless, Pappy
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I relate and 2 grand-daughters thoughts and actions are what I also do. I don't know if it is involved with my alcoholism I have other attention disabilities and have taught myself that if I don't understand it now later on I'll "Get it" and that has worked. Reading beyond certain subjects seems to be my norm.
I have never been a great reader. I often skip chapters, read from back to front (except my sponsor told me not to read the BB that way). Also my focus has always been "off" when reading. I've never been diagnosed but it has been suggested to me by more than one person, that I have ADHD. So I haven't and prob. won't notice much if any difference.
I had problems with reading, too. At some moments I could to read so many things, which are connected with AA, but with other books I just had moments when i stop. I was too much fixed in details, i wanted to understand the meaning of every word which just blocked me from just "to read for fun and relax - or just to read to understand new information and things". I learned that there are books in which every word has meaning and its important for me to understand exactly the meaning of the word, and there are books for university (for example), where i have to understand and learn the information (i'm reading them with sheet of paper and mark the pages, write questions, and pick the important things) and there are books for fun and free time. The most important thing for me was to make difference and my HP helped me with that. And after that the tricks which are helping me are just the things that i found most effective for me.
