My Journey With Health And Fitness – The Power of Books

It is once again a super hot day here in Playa. My weather app is predicting some rain this afternoon but quite frankly it tends to say that every day. We would welcome some rain here as it is quite dry. Having said that, if the forecast is wrong and I get to hang out in our pool this afternoon I am ok with that too.

I am an avid reader, I always have been. For a long time most of my reading consisted of labour case law fitting in e-books when I traveled. I should note, even the case law, unlike many I knew. I would read the whole case instead of just skipping to the decision. I ended up hooked on e-books because when I traveled I would often go through several books and didn’t want the weight (or necessary room) with taking hardcopies with me. Once I retired books became fair game once again. We actually have a library set up down here at the condo and I have dozens of books that I have read here while floating on the pool.

But I have also become a bit of an addict to audio books. Many years ago I had set up an account to download books but that was really for my Mom since she had lost most of her vision so could no longer read. Then of course my sister lost her sight so I kept the account once Mom had passed so that my sister could listen to books. Then, when I started doing hours of walking in 2020 I started listening to books. Let me be clear, if I find a really good book it makes the amount of time walking just fly by. When I was running I would often force myself to focus on the book to distract me from how much I hate running. I also have this bizarre rule that once I start a book I have to finish it whether I am enjoying or not.

I’ve been fortunate to find some authors lately that have written series of books. One of my most recent finds is Diane Saxon who is a British writer. I love her mystery novels and am on my 4th one since I came to Playa. Another is David Rosenfelt who has a great character who is a lawyer but also a dog lover so you know that keeps me interested. Once I find a good author I try to listen to all of their books and right now I have plenty in my library just waiting for me.

The power of books is amazing. To me it brings me peace and joy when I find a book that can totally engage me while I am out walking. I know it is a really good one when I can walk for over an hour and be surprised that my walk is over.

I hope everyone out there has something that makes them as happy as reading books does for me. Starting a new hardcopy one on the pool today and I can’t wait.