Reading Amidst a Global Pandemic

 Musings on Reading in a time of Change

2020-Present Day (2021)

As you all have seen, my reading, and therefor posting to this blog have slowed down considerably through the past few years. Initially those changes had to do with my life changing drastically when I moved on from college and into the workforce, then COVID-19 hit and my world and job prospects spiralled even more. My schooling with a degree in Biology and minor in Environmental Policy gave me the courage and hope to shoot for the stars, which I quickly found to be slightly unattainable. I struggled to find a job in my field that offered a livable wage and lasted longer than a seasonal five month period. This was not due to GPA, qualification, or poor interviewing limitations, it simply is how many start in the sciences (or so I am told). I finally landed a job in my field that offered everything I needed, however, it was a short term posting. I moved back to New York and began to work in the field in June 2019, during this time I read voraciously. I had my needs covered, housing sorted, and loads of free time to fill. Oh and I should mention I had no internet during this time. November 2019, I moved back home to Vermont to work a seasonal position in shipping with the goal of returning to New York the following spring/summer. This part time job allowed me to listen to copious amounts of audiobooks while driving, a true perk of that job. This position ended in the late spring, just after COVID-19 hit. I worked diligently to find work through this crisis. I found work with the same shipping company in a management role. Again this job was supposed to be a part time job, however, with the pandemic it quickly turned into a full time job. I am grateful to have had a job throughout the pandemic, however, it meant that my reading declined precipitously. Finally in April of 2021 I received word that I would be moving back to New York to pursue my career in environmental conservation.

The decline in my reading throughout the pandemic had little to do with my new role in management. The new job limited my free time, and capacity to focus on anything aside from moving cardboard boxes sure, but I found it was the fear of the unknown that had the greatest impact on my reading life. To say I do not like change is an understatement, and COVID-19 caused many things to change in all of our lives. Thinking on a daily basis about the possibility of contracting the virus and spreading it to loved ones though I followed all precautions consumed my thoughts leaving little room for reading. Each time I picked up a book in the past year I found my mind wandering through an inner monologue questioning the state of the world, how we are going to get through this, when will my career move forward, and so much more that I was unable to read much of anything. In 2020 I read only thirty-eight books from my goal of fifty-two. Similarly, this year, 2021, I have completed only eight books of my goal of fifty-two, leaving me twelve books behind schedule. Throughout the pandemic I guess it is safe to say that my mind was focussing on current events more so than which book I was going to read next. 

At the start of 2021 I was excited, busy, coping with the changes put in place to protect all of us from the current pandemic, and reading again when my life took another positive change. In early April I received word that I would be able to start a full time position with the same group who I had worked with in 2019 after graduating from college. This news was the best news I had received in a while regarding job prospects, however, it threw my reading off once again as my attention was drawn elsewhere. In the span of three weeks I found an apartment, furniture, packed my life, worked until the night before I moved, and moved to another state. Needless to say the move was stressful and took a lot of time and effort, diverting my attention away from reading. Throughout this time I read solely audiobooks during my daily commute to work. Audiobooks over the past two years have been my prefered reading method, due to time constraints. After reading almost exclusively audiobooks I have grown to love and appreciate the experience, so much so that I now find it challenging to focus on paper copy books. With the audio experience a good narrator can enhance the story and immerse the reader into another world with accents and correct pronunciation. Hearing a story where I am not puzzling over pronunciation, dialects, or character names is nice, but I enjoy audiobooks more for their performative aspects which bring the stories to life. It is an added bonus that I can speed up the narration, I find that my mind processes information faster than many people speak so the ability to increase the narration to two times speed works wonders on my comprehension and amount of books that I can go through. 

As I settle into a routine again back in New York I hope to take what I have learned from the past few years and implement more structure into my reading life. I plan to still use audiobooks when I am cleaning, driving, or cooking, read on my ereader when I am travelling, and get back into the habit of reading paper copy books. I understand now more than ever that during times of struggle and change I do not run to books for escape or distraction, I go to them to learn and experience other cultures. Moving forward I would like to embrace that fact rather than attempt to force reading during times of change. That is not to say stop reading all together whenever my life shifts, rather remove the pressure/expectation that I need to be reading constantly. 

I hope you all have found some good books to read during the pandemic and have found comfort in their pages. If you are comfortable sharing your experiences reading during the pandemic I would love to hear your experiences as well, you can share by leaving a comment on this post.