Apologies if this is the wrong sub for this.
I used to read lots, and I still love reading. But recently I’ve found that I’m struggling to read due to negative emotions resulting from my depression and anxiety. Like, when everything is quiet and my brain needs to focus, it just can’t, all that’s there is the pain and the worries. So I’ve been resorting to other, more engaging but less satisfying hobbies to distract myself, like going out somewhere, eating food or playing video games or whatever. These things are distracting me from my emotions but they’re also not satisfying or rewarding in the same way as reading a good book.
Does anyone who has experienced similar things have any advice for me to keep reading despite my current mental health?
Hey OP, you got a lot of good advice here. I just wanted to add that what works for me is to “try out” a lot of books. I hear about recommended books on podcasts, reddit, the newspaper, etc. And I just download a sample on Google Play Books of whatever I find even remotely interesting. If I finish the sample and still want more, then I’m usually interested enough to keep reading the rest of it. If I don’t finish it, no harm no foul, I move on to the next one. This way, I can find something gripping to read more easily. A lot of the time, synopses and recommendations are not enough, you really have to try reading a lot of books at a time to see which one suits your mood at the moment.