Transparent Tuesdays

Issue 48

You guys,

I’m trying something new with reading books. Before, I would listen at 2x speed and devour the book in a week.

But I don’t want to binge books the way I used to binge eat. 

Here’s what binge eating looked like: It’s late. I’m alone in the kitchen. I’m hungry because I restrict my caloric intake all day. I’ll just have a bite of this leftover fried chicken sandwich. I might as well eat the whole sandwich. Suddenly I’m scouring the fridge for lunch meat roll-ups and emptying the pantry of pretzels, Milano cookies and finally, always, Cheez-its.

When I look around my library now I feel ravenous. I know I shouldn’t read them so fast since it doesn’t allow me time to digest anything. But when I see so many goodies lining the shelves the monster inside me wants to tear them to shreds. 

So I have a new approach to reading books. It’s not enough to highlight passages that resonate. I’m asking myself why it resonates and what it makes me think of from my own life. 

I thought the joy from a book came from the actual reading and turning of the pages. But the real joy comes after you’ve read the book. When you’ve had time to digest and reflect.

Derek Sivers elaborates:

“The moment when you read somebody else’s idea - that’s a wow moment - but you don’t really learn it until you’ve put aside the time to reflect on it.”

And for me, the best way to reflect is to write. Writing brings clarity and understanding.  

The joy from bingeing a book is always fleeting. It feels good in the moment, but afterwards you berate yourself and ask, What was the point? Did I just read that book to check it off my list? Did I learn anything? Or is this all just productivity porn?

So no more binge reading. It starts with my first book of 2021: Untamed by Glennon Doyle.

---

Essay of the Week

Instead of transcribing all my favorite quotes from Untamed and leaving them in Evernote like an old high school prom dress, I dove deep into one idea from the chapter called, “Boys.”

I wrote an essay about how I wanted a daughter. But I got a son.

[Read the post here.]

---

Gagging Is A Good Thing

Over the weekend I took a course called Feeding Littles that teaches the baby-led way of infant feeding. 

The offending players: avocado and squash.

I learned that gagging is the baby’s body’s way of protecting his airway. It’s totally normal. 

Fun fact: An adult’s gag reflex is at the back of the throat. A baby’s is mid-tongue. 

So it doesn’t bother them or scare them. And they usually recover within a few seconds. I watched multiple videos of baby’s gagging on food. I was ready.

I was also ready for George to not like the food or be interested in the food. But I was not prepared for him to be afraid of it.

There was a lot of whimpering and he seemed mostly offended that we put steamed yellow squash and avocado strips on his tray. He did eventually touch and even hold some of the food, but there was zero interest in eating it.

Baby steps. ;)

---

Until next week,

Charlie