This may sound silly.

But I started reading books again.

I stopped for a while, like 18 months.

I was tired of reading and especially writing books.

I wrote my father’s biography Close the Loop, and it exhausted me. I wrote it quickly, but it took a while to get to that point. It took years of convincing him, interviewing him. Years to pour through his archives and eventually digitize them.

Shortly after its publication, I turned my attention to my collaboration with Congressman John Lewis, Carry On. With his terminal diagnosis, he knew this would be his last literary memoir. This was emotionally heavy for me.

After he passed, I needed to decompress.

I needed to shut off the literary part of my mind. Something about the muscle memory of reading and writing books exhausted me. I think because for the last many years, I didn’t read for pleasure. I read to learn about a topic about which I was writing a book or op-ed.

I wasn’t reading. I was researching.

I’ve been busting my rear end writing books over the last fifteen years. I was tired of writing, reading, and especially promoting my works.

I made a commitment to watch more films and even spend more time on social media.

I started using TikTok and loved it. And then I got tired of it. I guess that’s its ephemeral nature. It didn’t feel permanent, long lasting, dare I say… cultivated.

I picked up the classical guitar, too. My instructor recommended that I read Kenny Werner’s Effortless Mastery.

And that was it. It’s not this book is so special, but I had forgotten the joy of reading.

Being inside someone else’s mind to learn about their struggles and journeys.

My time away from reading books had given me space to try it again.

Then I got a Kindle Oasis, with a warm backlight. I love it.

I devoured Werner’s book.

And we’re back… to reading and enjoying and growing.

I read 3 books last month.

Now the writing begins again.

I will write reviews of the books I find fascinating.

I’ll feature these reviews in my Seven Point Sunday newsletter. In hopes that you find some of my observations helpful to your own journey.

Let’s get started…