In this day and age, our attention spans are obviously limited. We can barely sit through a 60 second video, so who’s got the time to sit down and read a book?
Nevertheless, there are people out there who go through, like, a hundred books a year. No matter how hard I’ve tried to get sucked into novel like these people seem to do, no matter how hard I try to focus and become a reading freak, I have never been able to do it. It feels kind of humiliating. Why can’t I just read?
Well. I got my ADHD diagnosis a few years ago, and that explained a lot. I wasn’t any more encouraged, though. I got my medicine and supplements, but for some reason, nothing happened.
For a really, really long time, I could still barely focus on half a chapter for schoolwork—much less enjoy one of the dozens of books people had recommended and raved about to me. I told my friends about this, praying they had some sort of advice or magical cure.
Of course not.
“shii bro💀” was probably the most compassionate response I got.
Then I had the common sense to not be asking other thirteen-year-olds for genuine advice. I went to my dad—someone with ADHD who’s also a literal English major—and asked him for a book recommendation.
The Third Bear, a collection of short stories by Jeff Vandermeer, was finished in probably a week. Then I read it again.
Next came Stories of Your Life and Others and Exhalation by Ted Chiang. Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata. The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, Cursed Bunny, Stories From My Neighborhood—The list goes on. I’ve read probably a dozen or so “books” like these—novel-length collections of short stories.
Wow, she found out that short-form writing exists!
Shut up.
In all seriousness, these short stories changed my life. Even though some of them were mid, and some of them were weird philosophical shit that I will never have the energy to bother with, I was able to read. I was able to realize that my ADHD and my attention span and whatever else is wrong with me can only hinder me so much.
I was inspired. I started reading books again. Novellas, short books, then normal novels.
Somewhere in there was Blood Meridian. I have no idea what I was thinking.
I can read books for school. I can read books for fun. But not much hits like the obscure collections of stories that I find from time to time. Short stories didn’t save my life or anything, but they got me through one of the biggest low points of my ADHD diagnosis. They were the starting point to becoming myself again. Not just reading—I could do schoolwork without procrastinating, focus on my hobbies, commit to things I wanted to do, whatever.
Go read a short story, guys. It cures ADHD or something. I don’t know. Trust!
Oona
I would love to read these short stories! They don't have too complicated plots, and they are easy to get through. Sometimes I agree that it is hard to get through a novel (my with my short attention span), which is how short stories are so helpful!
ReplyDelete