I went to the library today.
Not the school library where students go for a quiet place to study or to frantically print out their articles before class while crossing their fingers and praying that the fossil computers won't lag or that they'll select the right printer on the first try. Not that library.
I went to the St. Helena Public Library. I used to go to the library all the time as a little girl. My dad would take me and my sister and we'd be so excited to find all the best books. My personal favorites were Katie Kazoo Switcheroo, The Magic Treehouse, and Nancy Drew. I would read for hours and hours.
Then I bought myself a Kindle Fire for my 11th birthday. At first, I used it to read books, but once I realized I had access to games and youtube... my addiction to technology replaced my love for reading.
10 years later and not much has changed. I'm glued to my phone for hours on end, scrolling through TikTok and searching for some kind of... satisfaction? Over the years I've tried to get back into reading but unfortunately, college has the ability to make good habits seem like torture and self-sabotage seem like self-care. A professor assigns 20 pages of reading? I will protest by reading nothing at all.
The thing is, I'm going through the most challenging and confusing time as I unpack the last few years of my life and try to comprehend the next few. College is coming to an end and soon I'll be permanently released from the boundaries of academic life. Who am I as an adult and how do I choose to spend my time?
How am I caring for myself? What are my interests? What am I learning that I'm not being taught?
So, I went to the library today. An attempt to rekindle the curiosity and admiration I once had for an "acoustic" life: to get a reminiscent whiff of the air that I used to obsessively breathe as a little girl, full of imagination.
It was refreshing, to say the least, and - best of all - cheaper than therapy. (Side note: I think libraries are one of the last institutions that haven't been infected by capitalism. 100% free. No lie, no catch.)
I went to the library today, and perhaps I'll go again.
- jenica nieto
blog entry #2
Excellent. Amazing how digital devices have "replaced" libraries. Sad, too.
ReplyDeleteHi Jenica! I used to love reading Nancy Drew growing up and over summer I got into reading again and sadly over the school year its hard to keep up with but I will say that reading really does help especially with your mental health, so thats a good hobby to have.
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