I’m sitting here stewing in my own diagnosable middle-aged anxiety…therapy helps a little…but not enough 🙂
I go through periods of reading draughts, and I am in one now -but as I was arguing with my inner self sitting on my couch, I thought what I really need is a book to suck me in, to focus my mind and emotional presence on another time and place that calms me. Something to motivate me to spend peaceful hours nestled in my dimly lit bedroom with my dog sleeping on the bed next to me.
I need the relief and escape and hope a good book can give.
Something intellectually light but emotionally impactful.
Something I can connect with right now…with a story, theme or message of hope through some sort of flowering transition. That doesn’t mean it can’t be grim at times…I’m not trying to avoid darkness…but I don’t want an existential soul searing journey to a hopeless end. It can be painful at the start and in the middle – but in the end, I want it to eventually travel to an uplifting and joyful place.
I am thinking fantasy, but not necessarily hard fantasy, with elves and dwarves and such (which I love, by the way, but don’t feel will hit the spot right now). Maybe something more fantastical in the real world with elements of magic and awe. More Sanderson or Koontz than Tolkien.
I’m a 55-year-old man with two adult kids, one about to come home from college, another about to go away for his last two years. Wrestling with my own generalized anxiety, fear, and concern about changing life from 40 years of hard work raising a family into a not-soon-enough retirement. I’m looking to connect with characters and a story that resonates with transitionary change in an affirming way.
Too much to ask?
Sounds like it!
by AConant