This may be a strange, strange situation, but sometimes I am extremely distracted while reading. This happens more often than I'd like to admit. There will be absolutely nothing to distract me, but there I'll be thinking about what's for dinner, or who I might talk to, or the societal structure of ducks, or on occasion how certain words came to be. I'm not quite sure what to do about it, but I know it happens. Sometimes I blame the reading material - "It was too dry," "Nothing to hold my attention," "I have to get through it for class" - but honestly that's probably not the truth. Don't get me wrong - for some of the pieces that is precisely part of what is going on. But for most readings, it is not the case.
What is frustrating about it is that it is hardly time efficient. For a girl who has a lot on her plate, it makes it just a little harder to keep things from slipping off. Sometimes during the semester there would be hints of mashed potatoes plopping to the floor or some poorly barricaded peas that would cascade in a suicidal attempt to flee from the swaying plate that held them. These reading casualties can be partly attributed to this difficulty. For many stories and independent pages, I have to read them several times in order to actually read them.
Let me explain: The first read sometimes would have the best of intentions and then come to a word that started with a "gr-." Instantly my mind would jump to the thought that my stomach was "gr"owling, which led to what to feed it, which led to what would take place while I was making that, which would lead to having to do dishes, which would lead to making a list of all the chores I hate doing (dishes being one of them), which would lead to when was the last time I vacuumed the apartment, which leads to my roommates, which leads to..., which leads to..., which leads to.... END OF PAGE. Uh-oh. I realize at this point generally that while my eyes have read every word, my brain has ... not.
If at first you don't succeed- try, try again. So, I do. This time I want to make sure I get every word, so I chant to myself: "Focus. Focus. Focus," which turns into "Car. Camera. Photo," which leads me down yet another rabbit hole. END OF PAGE. This time there is not uh-oh. There is only frustration and anger. My inner self chews me out to let me know I can do better.
So, I try, try again, again and find that my finger following down the words is distracting. I thought it would help me focus on individual words, so I could concentrate on the message, but now I'm just focused on hitting every word at the same time and so I'm not taking it in again.
I think to myself, "Get your act together. Sure, you'll sound a little crazy, but go ahead and read it out loud if that will help." So I try that and the idea that I'm reading it out loud is distracting because of self-conscious factors and how my voice sounds.
At some point, you throw in the towel and decide, "Tonight's not the night to read. Maybe tomorrow." While this does not happen all the time, it has happened to me before. I know this is a weird topic to openly talk about, but I know I can't be the only one that inadvertently thinks of other things as she reads. I'm an avid reader, but sometimes my head has other ideas. Try as I might, there's no going against that. So, I write this not for self-benefit or self-appreciation, but for those handful of people who feel the same and struggling with the difference.
LOVED this post!! That is exactly what happens to me when I try to read! It is hard because we want to be interested and we want to be obtaining the information but there is always something better to think about. Or something to think about so you don't have to think about it again."I might as well stop mid sentence so I can make my to-do list" happens to me all the time. Again, as you said, this doesn't happen to me every time I read, sometimes I get so into a book I can't think about anything else but what is going on, but I do experience this frustration quite often.
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