Many of us with ADD or ADHD also have dyslexia, but there other kinds of reading problems too.
The big bottle of aloe vera was 6.99, but the small tubes said 50% off. I looked more carefully (unusual for me) and actually it said buy one get one. I calculated price per ounce on my i phone (also unusual; if I can’t do it in my head I rarely bother) . So I got four of the smalls and felt smug. When I checked out, they were – “Buy one, get 50% off on the second”! – not “one free.” And then I kind of remembered kind of reading that. Kind of.
I think I read a lot of things ‘kind of ‘ style.
I’m reading a good book on chaos. Some of it I don’t understand, but I just go on. I think, “I’ll read this again later.” I won’t. When I read, I’m so eager to get on to the next paragraph, and the next chapter, it’s hard to slow down or to re-read in order to understand. I just go on. Plus I’m also eager to get on to the next book of the fourteen I have stacked up, waiting.
If there’s a lot of description, I often skip it – “There were several juniper trees, and many olive trees, loaded with grey green berries not yet quite ripe but only waiting for picking time and the laborers’ gnarled hands and round wicker baskets to yield up their acrid fragrant taste, with their smallish leaves giving off a faint reflection of afternoon sun, a huge orange red orb burning its way through the sky and illuminating the whole grove with an ethereal glow, reminiscent of —–” Argggh! Not for me. What happened next?
I’m also usually involved in reading three book at the same time, in different rooms; sometimes I’ll get a little tired or overloaded of the one I’m in and switch for a while.
Some of this is impatience, some is difficulty making choices, and some may be good strategies.
How do you read???? Is this blog too long?????
doug
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Thank you Doug and “The Best Pet Ever”,
I don’t have it bad enough to keep from getting to bed eventually. That would be really difficult! My big problem is getting enough work done as I’m self employed and work at home. The staying away from the computer for days at a time seems to work good enough, so I haven’t had the incentive to try to improve the system. I do get to listen to audio books while I work. That is a real plus! There are so many distractions around though. So many interesting things to learn about!!!
All the best,
Scott
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scott
that is the truth!!! so many distractions, so many books to read, so much on the net to follow, etc etc etc. and we have trouble making choices.
and you make another very good point, if a problem doesnt cause us enough trouble, we will not have the incentive to do something about it, and that seems ok, as long as we’re not fooling ourself anyway.
thank you for all of your comments.
doug
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Love this post! Glad to know I’m not the only one LOL! I’ve been skipping over the descriptive parts of books since I was old enough to start reading! I just want to know the plot thank you very much!! Not sure if that is an aspect of my ADD or not but I can totally relate!
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pet
I think its at least part ADD. thank you for your comment.
doug
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You’ve got it right on with this post! I used to have trouble reading anything that didn’t have a story line. Now, anything with a story line I can’t put down… I think this might be one of the problems I have with wasting time on the computer. It just keeps going endlessly and I can always direct the flow to something I am curious about. Any ideas for curbing that? I’ve tried timers, but usually when the timer goes off I’m so sucked in that I won’t stop. It takes something that will actually take me away, cut the cord, so to speak. Right now I just try to not turn on the computer for several days at a time. That helps a lot.
Thank you for your posts!
Scott
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scott
that’s a hard problem. you could get a very loud timer, or even better, two, and set them pretty far from the computer where you have to get up and go to them to turn them off. in addition you could try scheduling specific times with the computer, 11am to 11:45, 2- 2:45, 7Pm to 8. etc., along with timers. are there any programs that will let you schedule times that the computer will automatically turn off? the staying away for days sounds good. maybe you coudl schedule that also- only use the computer monday, wednesday, saturday,’ when you pick a strategy, you will need to stick with it, and you will have many slips, bu tif you are serious about it it can eventually become a habit – ( if not, you would need to choose a different strategy)
as always, thank you for commenting
best wishes
doug
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I completely understand what you are talking about Scott! I love to read but have a lot of trouble stopping. It gets so bad sometimes that I will stay up for days in a row reading, I won’t leave the house to go run errands or stop to eat. Over the past few years I have stopped going to the library for months at a time because I know what a problem it is….I’m almost (but not quite) scared to start a new book LOL!
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I really relate to what you are saying in this post, Doug. Exactly right for me. Of course, I don’t think your posts are too long. I’m loving reading your book, too. Found that I can use the speech recognition feature of my Kindle DX and it “reads” the book to me, in a somewhat robotic voice, but still not too bad. I even was able to run that sound to my IPod speaker dock using a cable that connects to the earphone jack on my Kindle DX. Now, that seems to work for me, so I’m happy. I find that reading and hearing the words as I read is very good for my retention. I try to read at least one chapter a day. They are not too long, and they all have had great tips for me. Some of the things I have been doing for years, of course, but like you, I didn’t know why. Now I know what’s behind some of my behavior and it helps me to have a new frame of reference. Not to “justify” myself, but to understand myself. Thank you so much for providing these strategies.
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russ,
that is a good strategy, reading and listening at the same time. we all learn differently, seeing hearing, doing- and you are combining.
thank you for your comments i appreciate them.
best wishes,
doug
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This one is especially fab Doug. 🙂
a long week and I’m quite ready to rest now. Hope you’re well.
marc’s iphone
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marc,
thanks
doug
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