Wondering if there are any other readers here that deal with just as the title points out - some sort of mental health situation impacting their reading for fun. So here’s a sort of transparent tangent and seeing if there’s anyone who can relate 🫶🏼

In my case it is diagnosed OCD with perfectionism and anxiety that get in the way and hinder my reading for fun. I have been in therapy working on exposure therapy but it is absolutely exhausting basically learning to read for fun again.

I half joke that higher education ruined my reading for fun since I took literature classes and dissected writing, annotated, what does it really mean, could it have been written differently or better, and so on.

I’ve been doing better and my compulsions appear in a variety of ways but still catch myself rereading the same things repeatedly to try and really understand it. To make sure I pay enough attention to the text that I am respecting the author and so on…

If anyone has either words of encouragement or dealt with something similar please lmk. Could use some encouragement right now 💝

Happy reading 📚

✨UPDATE: thank you all so much for the lovely, thoughtful, and kind comments. Not only was this my first post on PB so I wasn’t sure if anyone would respond, but I’ve never had anyone share these experiences with me. While I obviously wish all of us could exist and read uninhibited - I find comfort knowing I’m not alone. I’ve never found other people who have overlapping experiences (even on Reddit normally just crickets). And yep posting on PB is definitely another sort of exposure therapy. I absolutely love it but OCD is trying to sink its claws into my enjoyment.

So yeah wanted to say thanks and keep doing what you can everybody 🫶🏼📚

Okay, but what is that one book that you read in secret and refuse to openly talk about with most people in your life? 👁️👁️

Finally, i come back after long pause just to get the translated edition. Wish my brain will cooperate this time:D