Why can't I read books or watch films anymore?

[Hoolajerry]

I'm 41 with 4 dc ( not sure if that's relevant but wondered if they'd heightened my emotions). I used to be an avid reader. I've never been a massive film person but used to enjoy them to an extent. As I've got older I find that I can't watch or read anything that has any level of tension. I just find it so deeply unpleasant that I can't continue with it. I can tolerate things I know are going to be safe ie. things I've seen before, but I find it very difficult with new things. I really want to be able to read more but I never finish a book as inevitability the story gets too much and I can't deal with it. Is anyone else like this?

Yes sometimes I’m a bit like that. Especially with reading. I literally have to put down the book!

You’re choosing the wrong things to read and watch?

I can still read but I haven't watched a film in years because I just have never had the concentration for it since I had children. I can barely even watch TV.

I seem to have lost my mojo with reading. I find that I'm mentally ticking off plot points, inwardly rolling my eyes and thinking 'next!' Or with the weirder literary experiment type ones I'm thinking 'Get your clothes on, Emperor!'

It's slightly better on holiday when I don't feel like I have to account for every minute. But I do miss the feeling of getting lost in a book.

You're full to the very brim with kids op - especially 4!

When things ease off with the kids when they're much older, it'll ease off and you'll be able to get back into books and films.

Your mind is fed up with the stuff. Drugs of mind dont work anymore. You have to move BEYOND your mind. Listen to this last book, it is also on YT.

Eckhart Tolle: The Power of Now

Then watch some of his videos, also Moojiji, Alan Watts, Krishnamurti, Ram Das...Nisargadatta Maharaj🙏

I am the same. I am trying to watch This Is Us at the moment and the story is so emotional that I can only manage small doses. I keep turning it off mid way through for a break.