Way back when, when I was young, people used to read. Not forum posts, not news headlines. This thing called books. Maybe some can remember them.
Now I had a pretty shitty childhood. But I loved reading. I read all kinds. It opens the mind, it creates ideas. It makes shitty reality go away for a while so you have time to recover.
It just seems to me that so many young people these days suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts. It is a result of modern society. I just wonder if a bit of old-fashioned reading won’t make things more manageable.
14 comments
Were you an Arnhem Knight or something? Your handle reminds me of Nijmegen.
Anyway: I completely and utterly agree with your statement. I plan on sitting down with a good novel in the next two weeks and letting that occupy me for a time. I’d love any suggestions on your part, or anyone else’s, for that matter.
I love a good book. The only author I actually bother buying ( instead of using library) is Dean Koontz. Horror with humor…I love it.
No the handle comes from a long time ago when I was battling depression, playing with guns and dum dums and on meds. I see meds as a rickety, swaying bridge, which you should use to realign your mind to escape the depression. You can’t stay on the meds forever. You’ve gotta cross the bridge they provide and get off them.
I didn’t think I’d make it, hence the handle. But I did. Not really thanks to the meds. Thanks to my cowardice to pull the trigger.
I used to love adventure novels, amongst others. Which gave me my wanderlust. Which eventually left me stranded on an island facing suicide, sans depression.
However, it does depress me a tad to have to now kill myself.
Favorite author: Wilbur Smith. Epic tales.
Reading doesn’t help. Well, it does for a bit just like zoning out to a movie or something for a while, but it hardly makes it manageable.
Still, reading is good. I’ve always loved to read…actual books too. I can’t stand reading books on a screen.
TV, movies etc. don’t help. They do not really engage your mind in a way words do. Reading a book your mind is forced to create the scenes, in visual its just fed in and the mind is not engaged.
A long, epic novel will carry you off totally.
I guess.
But I also watch movies with the subtitles on so maybe it’s more engaging that way. Sometimes if I’ve seen the movie a lot and there are lots of choices in ones I’m interested in, I’ll watch them with subtitles in other languages.
I don’t watch much TV.
A good movie helps me forget life for a bit.
I LOVE books. Frankly, I never read much as a child, only books like Goosebumps. Never through puberty until my massive breakdown. But I wrote a lot as a child. I still have some of my stories somewhere. I like to read them sometimes.
I use to always read books as a kid.. I still read nearly every night before I go to sleep and it hasn’t made anything more manageable. Might help others although it did not help me haha.
I agree with you I am an advid reader of books and have been for a long long time now and YES it does really make for a better life. he ideas you get from readig good books can drastically imprve your existance and help you make better choices in life. so I Applaud your post!!!!
BOOKS MAN BOOKS
If you have the time , I challenge you to pick up a good novel and read – not just a chapter before sleep – immerse yourself as long as possible. Not something that will make you depressed further like some love story or tragic tale. Something strong. Something different.
I can highly recommend Wilbur Smith for this.
http://www.wilbursmithbooks.com/
The common theme I see here with the younger people is that there is a lack of a strong family unit. Mother is this, dad is that, brother is something else, and so on.
No/little love, and/or caring for someone else’s needs.
Selfishness within the family leads to selfishness within. Kids learn that and they also learn it from their peers.
Lack of actual interaction with others also plays a part. Nowadays with iPhones and such, there isn’t even a lot of face to face communication anymore, or even talking.
So kids are a product of this sick society that teaches its ok for girls to be whores and dress like sluts too, its the adults who are responsible for raising and loving their kids, and most now simply don’.
This no surprises more kids are depressed.
Been lying unable to sleep and started thinking about great authors of books I read. Too many to remember.
Jack London. A must.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Boris Pasternak
P. G. Wodehouse for light fun
Agatha Christie for quaintness
Alistair MacLean
Dean Koontz
Mark Twain
Wilbur Smith – outstanding
and too many to remember.
I’m showing my age.
I will try some of these.