Too Much of a Good Thing

Picture this...a sweet, chubby sort of little girl growing up out in the countryside, her nearest neighbors her Grandma and Grandpa. In the summer, she plays quite a bit with her siblings and the young girl who lives about a half a mile a way. She's the closest non-family playmate in the area.

This little girl has plenty of free time, and she loves books. A lot. Her mother takes her to the library so that she can choose two or three books every single week. She enjoys going outside and playing with the other children. She can't wait to turn on the sprinklers and jump on the trampoline and pretend she's wading through a big swimming pool.

But she also likes to find a quiet spot with just her book. She'll settle in for hours and read to her heart's content.

And my question is this. Is there such thing as too much reading? Today, my answer just might be yes. I sort of feel like I've glutted myself on books for the past few years. Not to mention the fact that I was in law school, so it isn't as if I had some sort of shortfall when it came to reading time. And last night I was telling a friend that I'd read something like twenty books so far this year. I was wrong. It was seventeen. Still. That's a lot. Last December alone, I read six. And one of those was Ken Follet's tomb of a novel (at, ahem, almost 1,000 pages) The Pillars of the Earth.

So naturally, today it felt like too much. Like I'm letting myself live through books instead of getting out into the real world.

Thus, I dropped off my books at the library. And instead of picking out five books, I chose only one. And I'm going to savor that book. I'm not going to devour it whole tonight and tomorrow. I'm going to let it sink in for a few weeks.

And then, instead of reading so very very very very much, I'm going to commit my time to other endeavors. Like writing a novel of my own. Like really dedicating myself to a job search. Like working out as much as possible while I have the free time. Like calling friends and family and talking to them more. Like reaching out to friends here.

You know, right after I graduated from BYU, I went through a reading drought. I sort of was tired of it after all that reading for my major and my minor. For around a year, I didn't really read much. But I had a lot to do. I was taking on a new life. I moved to Virginia. I got my first real job as a grown-up...all graduated and official. I was making new friends and going on road trips to North Carolina and Upstate New York.

My life was balanced.

My life is not balanced. And that means I have to let some things go. And it means I have to be honest. Reading is good for you. But it can't be the only thing. It isn't the only thing. So reading, it is with a very heavy heart that I have to tell you this. We are going to slow it down for a while. I have to get on with the rest of my life.