Quiet

The view today from my comfy chair by the window.

It is snowing like crazy here today and it's a good thing that I had the day off because the last thing I want to do is go outside! I like these kinds of days as I feel like they give me permission for doing what I like best: snuggling in with a cup of tea and a good book. Aaahhh...paradise. For some reason I feel like sharing one of my very favourite books with you. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain is, in my opinion,  brilliant. You may have heard of it as Quiet is a New York Times Bestseller and the author is well-known for doing a Ted Talk on the subject. If you are an introvert yourself or if you have a spouse or a child who is, you MUST read this book. 

I did the test at the beginning of the book to find out if I was an introvert (even though I already knew the answer to that). Turns out I am introverted with an ability to be extroverted in key situations. In other words, even though I value and crave my alone time I am capable of appearing extroverted when the situation calls for it. At work, for example, or in social situations I don't have trouble making conversation with lots of people, it just means that at the end of a very social day I'm really quite tired and need to be by myself to recuperate. 

I only wish this book had been written years ago when my children were starting school. If this book had been available when they were younger I might have presented every one of their teachers with it at the start of the school year and kindly asked them to read it. That way I might not have had the same conversation with each of them during parent-teacher meetings from kindergarten to Grade 12. The conversation essentially goes like this: Your son/daughter is such a great kid. He/She is so polite, kind, listens well and is respectful towards the teacher and the other kids, BUT they don't participate enough in class. Really? Why did that matter so much to the teacher? The author explains that it is because teachers find it easier to teach what is called the extrovert ideal. Essentially, most teachers find it less work to teach the rowdier kid who lifts his hand to ask lots of questions (even the non-relevant ones) than the quiet, introverted child. Go figure.

Thanks in big part to this book I feel that there is a paradigm shift coming and the introverts of this world are starting to be valued for their gifts. After all, introverts are the thinkers and listeners of this world. I think Susan Cain says it best when she writes: "The next generation of quiet kids can and should be raised to know their own strength." Yay Susan!

Bookworm

During the Christmas Holidays I've had time to read, read, and read some more. Paradise. I've always been a bookworm, I don't remember a period in my life during which I didn't have a book or two by my side. One of my fondest memories of growing up is the Saturday morning trips to the library with my family. The book limit at the time was seven and I never left with less than that. I remember feeling like I was in seventh heaven when my parents let me loose in the children's section. I loved comic books, especially Tintin and the French series Astérix et Obélix, Boule et Bill, Le club des cinq, Barbapapa and Gaston Lagaffe. 

As soon as we would get back from the library I would sink into the family room chair for a marathon session of reading. The only problem with comic books is that I would zip through them so fast that by the end of the day I would have nothing left to read!

That's me, circa 1970 something, with our family pooch. Don't you love the hair rollers?

Me again, a few years later, doing what I do best! You can definitely tell it's the 70s from the décor, can't you? 

Here I am in more recent years and I obviously still like to read sitting sideways on the chair.  

Unlike other kids who couldn't wait to open their presents to find toys at Christmas, the best gifts you could ever give me have always been books. I remember those Christmases where I would receive the books from the Anne of Green Gables series. The original is the one that most people know and love but I think I preferred the later ones about Anne growing up and having a family of her own. I always felt like I knew her personally and I was so sad when I had finished the last book, it felt like I was losing a friend. 

Now that I'm all grown up my love of books has not diminished. One of my favourite things is still to have a few uninterrupted hours in my chair to read. I also can't imagine going to sleep without reading for at least half an hour in bed. It's a good thing that I married another bookworm who definitely gets it. John has the same need that I do to always have a book on the go. As a child, his brother would be exasperated with him because John would rather stay in his room to read than go out and play. As you can imagine, we have books everywhere and the bookcases are overflowing. 

The bookcase in our bedroom. Now that I look at it, I realize it's pretty messy, I really should take some time to tidy it up.

We have two children, but only one of them inherited our obsession with reading. Our son had a brief moment of interest in books when he was younger but nothing like our daughter's constant need to read. In fact, she had a bunch of friends over lately and they marvelled at the bookcase in her room. They couldn't believe how many books she had collected over the years, and that only holds a small part of her collection! She keeps trying to get us to change the dining room into a library. Her dream would be to have bookcases on all the walls. Hmm, maybe that's not such a bad idea after all.


"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers." 
Charles W. Eliot, The Happy Life, 1896