Day 71: Reading fog
One of the biggest mental changes I’ve had since becoming pregnant is my capacity to read.
Last year I made my way through 35+ books and audiobooks. This year, nearly halfway done with 2024, I’m clocking in at, like, four fully finished books?
My attention span to sit and read is not what it used to be. I am reading at a snail’s pace. And these past few months have seen me flitting about from one book to the next, reading some here and there, always leaving them half-finished.
This is definitely one of my more curious “symptoms,” if I can even call it that. My first-trimester exhaustion was a ready explanation for my sudden drop-off in reading. By 8pm most nights I was crawling into bed and asleep within minutes, the bedside table book stack forever feeling too heavy to lift.
But even when I got my second trimester energy back, the zeal for reading did not return.
And maybe it’s just my mind and body telling me it’s not a priority right now. That my learning and energy are better channeled into other modes of consumption — or, just resting altogether and taking any personal ambition to zip through dozens of books a year off the table.
It feels weird to be out of the reading world, to see all the hype of the latest releases pass me by. And it’s another little worry on my mind for when after the baby comes…if I’m zapped of the reading bug now, how can I expect it to resurface in the throes of postpartum?
I know somehow I’ll find my way back…but it cannot be by brute force.