Be careful what you read
Our hearts are tender and our spirits are wounded.
For a while I was really into novels set in grim alternate realities. The Hunger Games and its sequels were my first foray into dystopian fiction. In these and other books I was drawn to the resilience and ingenuity of the characters, ordinary people who were just trying to survive terrible circumstances (often brought on by leaders’ thirst for power and control) and to help others do the same.
Sometime in the late 2010s I read Station Eleven, which is about a deadly illness that suddenly overtakes people all over the world and obliterates life as we know it. When Covid hit, I could no longer read any dystopian novels because this particular storyline hit way too close to home.
I still can’t imagine picking up any of these books again, as good as they are. When they were mere escape, they fed my imagination. But when they began to feel too real, they no longer supported my mental health.
I tend to be purposeful in choosing the news I ingest, but putting down dystopian novels made me realize that I need to take a similar approach to art. The same might be true for you. If so, please know that:
You don’t have to finish every book (or show, or whatever form of art you’re attending to). I am a former perfectionist, and one of the ways that manifested was feeling compelled to read to the last page no matter how a book made me feel. I cannot tell you how much it has helped my mental health to allow myself permission to give up on a book that is causing me anxiety.
It can be life-giving to inhabit different perspectives. I have had to give up on fewer books, incidentally, the more I have read authors whose experiences differ significantly from my own. I look for both non-fiction and fiction, since facts and stories broaden my worldview.
It’s ok to seek out joy. Beauty, creativity, contentment, connection, fun - do not neglect these. They keep us human and keep us going. Read that beach book or romance novel without shame.
It’s important to gauge how your choices are affecting your functioning. Since mental and emotional strains often manifest physically, we can learn a lot about how we’re doing by scanning our bodies and getting curious about any discomfort we find. We can then thank our bodies for their wisdom, release some of the tension, and change our consumption as needed.
The above is true for us all, but it’s especially important for spiritual leaders. As humans we are as affected by all that we intentionally and unintentionally consume, and people are still looking to us for groundedness and guidance. What changes might you make in your art consumption, then, that can help you be more present and ready to preach that God loves us, wants good for us, and is always here with us?
One more note: while I will not crack the cover of The Hunger Games, I’m not at all sorry I read it. These times call for the courage of Katniss Everdeen, and I’m glad to have her portrait of courage, even if fictional.
Very helpful, as always. I've found that I cannot read anything in fiction that is too close to home since my father died almost 10 years ago. Your reflections here help me reframe what had felt like a strange new problem to solve.