Quirks

            This past week I did something I've never done before. I read two books at once. Trust me when I tell you most days I barely have the wherewithal to comprehend one. That is why I mostly read for entertainment. But I have quirks.

            One of my quirks is that I have to go to bed with only happy thoughts. If I am watching television I have to watch something happy, or mindless. I can’t watch news. When is the last time you saw a happy story on the news? Forget me watching any of my favorite shows if there is a cliffhanger involved. I will DVR it and watch during the day sometime so it is not the last thing on my mind when I go to bed.

            The same goes with books. If I am reading and run into a not-so-happy part I have to keep on reading until everything is back to good. Sometimes that is not as easy as it sounds because most of my reading I do is at night. My eyelids have a tendency to get heavy. And heaven forbid I fall asleep during an unhappy moment. As soon as my eyes pop open I force myself to continue on until I become content with the plot. I do this no matter how tired I am.

            So this past week I was reading a book entitled Manic, by Terri Cheney. I don’t usually read books that are true stories, but this one called out to me. The author suffers from manic depression/bipolar disorder. It was amazing to me to read what life is like for someone who has to deal with such adversity. I was truly overwhelmed and humbled. I give her, and everyone who has to deal with manic depression, credit. It opened my eyes in so many ways. I read this book to give me insight. In my next book a secondary character suffers from manic depression, and although that character doesn’t play a huge part, the effects of the mania does.  

            Unfortunately I couldn’t go to bed right after reading that. I had to start another book so I could find my happy before my nightly slumber. I picked Fading, by E.K. Blair. It is a work of new adult fiction, which doesn’t always have happy themes to it, but it worked for me. I would read Manic first then turn to Fading. Thankfully it worked.

     

       Why do I do such odd things? If I go to bed with an unhappy mind it will come back to haunt me. I’ll get probably two good hours of sleep before the bad thoughts weave their way in. They wake me, and I lay there. And lay there. No matter what I try to focus my mind on it always drifts back to that part of the book, or television show, which upset me.

            Hey, I never said I was a sane, normal person!

Do you have any quirks you care to share? Do you read for escape or to learn? What are you reading now? Do you know anyone who suffers from bipolar disorder or manic depression?