‘Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body,’
A riff on some podcast musings I recently heard
‘Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body,’ was first coined by 18th century poet and politician Jospeh Addison but it was Bibliotherapist Germaine Leece who brought it to my mind recently, in her podcast Something to Eat and Something to Read which she co-hosts with Sophie Hansen.
Of late, I have been so hungry for something better to read. I’ve not been watching much TV and exercise, well I should be better. It’s reading that’s fuelling my mind.
It would be inappropriate of me to add alcohol to this mix - but not entirely untrue in my experience, ‘alcohol is to my aspiration, what reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body.
I jumped on the wagon doing Dry February this year and it was h.a.r.d.
In the evenings I was bored.
On reflection, I realised that end-of-day-drink charged my mind - processing the day and ideating the those ahead. But without the match - the fire (aspiration) could not exist and so I wanted to read and read and read.
Maybe it was the escapism I was missing, not the alcohol.
Those of you who know about these things will know the two go hand in hand. You must be relaxed in order to fly, alcohol helps with that but also so does reading, and cooking.
In their podcast, Germaine and Sophie discussed wether reading always needs to be fuel for the mind, and the same with cooking as they reminded us that sometimes, these activities can be mindless and that’s actually not a bad thing. We spend hours mindlessly scrolling on Instagram, so why is it such a bad thing thing that we might read a book without taking in any of the words, ‘that distraction, in small doses, can let us breathe.’
‘It’s a bit like swallowing a meal without tasting,’ says Germaine and adds, “I’ve lived in limbo through reading ……. in someway I haven’t let a story in but it’s acted as a buffer between me and whats happening in the real world.’
Sophie called it, ‘an intentional shutdown in order to reboot.’
The pair also referenced this brilliant read by Ochuko Akpovbovbo in a guest essay for Pandora Sykes Substack where Ochuko explains why she wants to read less.
Said no-one ever. But as I read on, I see her point, that sometimes reading can slide into refuge.
She reads a lot. Three hours a day to be true. In one month she once read 24 books!
And by way of this essay, she questions if reading had become too much of an addiction, an unhealthy shuttering off from the ‘real’ world.
“For me, reading has always been interwoven with loneliness, and longing, and stillness. A way to hit pause on my own story when I couldn’t find a narrative thread worth holding onto. I sometimes fear that if I were completely and blissfully happy, I wouldn’t read at all.”
Is it ok to be addicted to reading? Cooking? Alcohol?
I don’t come at this writing with a solution or an answer.
Just a reflection on our different forms of escapism and whether anything, everything in excess is unhealthy or not.
And also, that a wine at night can be helpful in more ways that we might know it to be on the surface. Sxx
Podcast Playlist
Lay your eyes on these Instagram accounts
@goodvibeswithwords || @tattieisles || @PROJEKTITYYNY
This pile of things to read
The one place on social media that still feels human - FB Marketplace - via NTY Magazine
I was like this as a child and try really hard to be it as an adult too - Mudlarking by Sophie Dahl - I have posted this before I'm sure but it's so delightful for me
15 Australian destinations that feel like Europe.
This game is a sign of my attention span - I came here for something and left hours later with not the thing.
Gah - loved this on Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party via The UK Times.