A book I regret reading

Have you ever regretted reading a book — which one and why?

Shoot, I wasn’t going to do the prompt today, but when I saw the question, the answer immediately popped into my head. I know the Sidney Lanier Elementary School librarian thought I was a mature child due to my vocabulary and reading skills. And I know she was aware that I loved books about horses. I’m guessing I’d pretty much gone through the entire horse collection during the hours Mrs. Atwater sent me away from the class so she could teach reading to the rest of the class in peace. But really. A ten-year-old girl is not a good candidate to read and appreciate the life lessons taught in John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony. Spoiler alert: the pony doesn’t fare well.

I don’t know if a 68-year-old highly sensitive adult woman who loves animals is a good candidate. Yep. I regret reading that book because it gave me many years of bad dreams.

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Honestly, as hard as I’ve been trying, I feel like my attempts at seeing the good in the world, being friendly, and appreciating what I have can’t keep the mental struggles away. If you’re feeling down, too, I see you and commiserate. We can hold each other up. I’m here to listen, too. It keeps us connected.

I do have things to bring a smile to my face, though. Kathleen gave me a very pretty tree of life hanging decoration and a whole set of matching coasters that she decorated herself. Each coaster is different!

Plus, I’m boosting my spirits by taking pride in doing hard things. For example, I’ve unpacked all my bags from my trip! And though I bought some shoes, I put three times as many in the donation boxes. Bonus: it’s been over a month and my closet is still all picked up. Look at meeee!

I will not dwell on the things I’ve not done that I should do. I’ll just try again tomorrow.