I am going to spend a chunk of today reading the book The Enchanted April, which was the play I was just in. I have done a lot of exercising and put in way more steps in a day than I typically do and I have gotten a lot of sun... So I'm going to have a rest day.
It occurs to me that I can count on one hand the amount of physical books I have read this year. I used to be someone who devoured physical books left and right. However, in the past few years I have found that I multitask. I listen to a book while I clean the backyard. I put on a podcast while I organize the basement. I stream something while I do the dishes. I have fallen into the habit and the mindset that just sitting and reading alone was somehow a waste of time. Even as I sat down here on the patio to read this book, I felt that I should be out doing something. Seeing the city, going for a walk, visiting someplace I haven't been before. I stopped myself realizing how backward this thinking is.
In the book and play, the Enchanted April, two women feel guilty about wanting to take a vacation. They feel there should be more effective use of their time and money. Of course, they overcome this and have a life-changing experience.
I don't know if I can blame this on my time in Evangelicalism, but there definitely was a message of "redeeming the time". Guilt was commonplace, particularly for anything that was self-indulgent.
So, I'm going to try to just sit on this patio and do nothing but read.
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