The Book Club DOH!

A racing mind is a beautiful thing - well most of the time.  It takes me down countless side trips and lets me multi-task effectively.  On a daily basis it's fun. Occasionally my mind gets extra excited and fired up. During those moments, I just ride the adrenaline roller coaster until it finishes.  

There are down sides.  Probably one of the biggest is, because my brain is working fast, I tend to read really fast. That often involves skimming through for the important facts.  As you can imagine - sometimes this works well and other times I don't quite absorb everything or get it exactly right.  I accept those short comings, and do try to slow down when necessary. 

This happens not just with reading, but with listening.  Sometimes I hear and absorb all of the information, and sometimes I pick up every third word and miss a few things. When the latter happens, it is embarrassing.  As I age, it's even more of a problem as the assumption is made that I'm having a senior's moment. How can these be senior's moments if I've been having them all my life?

My latest mix-up was during one of Aura McKay's Book Club for Freelancers. I joined almost a year ago and have really enjoyed being pushed outside the box in my reading.  Not all books hit the mark for me, but I have learned something from each, and added a few to my library permanently.

One month we decided to read a Brené Brown book. Everyone I know has talked about this author, so I was intrigued to finally dive into one of her books.  I snagged a copy of Daring Greatly from the library and read the first half in preparation for our zoom meeting. At the start I shared what popped for me. As others shared the things they liked and didn't like, I started to get confused. 

The author's regular use of the word "rumble" bothered a few of them. Why didn't it sound familiar. As they continued to talk, I did a quick word search and only found it mentioned once. Confusing to say the least, but none of us thought anything of it. We signed off with the promise to come back in two weeks to discuss the second half. 

At the next meeting I again talked about the ideas that had popped for me.  Then about halfway through the meeting I was asked if there was anything else I wanted to share. As I brought up a new subject, Aura suddenly smiled and asked me, "Are you reading Dare to Lead (the book everyone else was reading) or Daring Greatly (what I was reading)?"  Oh hell.  Talk about embarrassing.  

With great chagrin, I owned up to reading the wrong book. I heard the word Dare way back in the beginning and my crazy mind just rushed to fill in the rest. When Aura sent a confirming email, the same happened.  Honestly, I'm fortunate this type of thing doesn't happen more often.  It's a perfect example of how my brain works and I have had moments like this all my life. 

After the embarrassment died down though, I began to smile at the absurdity of it all.  No one caught on that I was reading the wrong book until halfway through the second meeting. How crazy is that? Not me. Not them. No one. Not only that, but from all they said, I got the feeling my mistake meant I read a book that was a lot more in tune with my interests.  My DOH moment was the right moment for me. Synchronicity at it's best - a meant to be.

Life is hilarious at times and we all have those moments where our concentration slips and we get it wrong.  What to do? LAUGH!  We need laughter in our life and we need lots of it.  I am still chuckling from the memories of this particular mix-up.  BUT - I think I'll pay a little more attention next month. I really don't want make this mistake again soon. 

That would definitely confirm it as a senior's moment. HAHHHAHAHAH!