Conversations With Strangers And The Day I Forgot How To Read
I have always felt attracted to the allure of a strangers voice. I love the smile you give someone over a book on the tube, the exhilaration of a smile returned. It thrills me to hear the first conversation between to people who get caught up in the ‘bumping into eachother dance’ we have all done, the ‘sorry’ and the ‘whoopsie daisy’ and the laughter as they both go in the same direction sometimes three times. I have always wanted to be someone’s rush hour crush (if you read the Metro you will know what I mean)
It is astonishing to me how we lack connection with strangers when we all practise voyeurism in some form, be it through social media, how hands remain glued to phones even through conversations with loved ones, our hands and eyes constantly feeding off our Instagram explore page or hungrily eating up Twitter. We are all so intertwined and interested in our little windows into eachothers lives we have forgotten to connect with our own.
Take the day I forgot how to read for example. I wonder now if it is a common thing. I used to read a book a week, a big fat book full of twists and turns and dog-earred intrigue. I used to read on the bus and at the bus stop, on my lunch break, at the beach. I read everywhere. And through my books I went to so many places without ever needing to leave a chair. And then my serotonin started to crave a new high, just like everyone else I got sucked into my iPhone. Quick paced information rapid fired into my brain. Tik toks, 5.6 trending loop reels sounds, group chats, work chats, texts from my mum, emails emails emails, scrolling and scrolling. And just like with everyone my brain LOVED it. 5 minutes turned into 5 hours, 5 hours turned into 5 days. Until one day I fancied reading books again. Only to find to my shock that I had forgotten how to read. Without the thumb flicking motion of scrolling down on a narrow screen to digest information absorbingly and quickly my mind wasn’t able to retain information, I had to shake my head and reset my eyes and try again. And again. At one point my hand even reached out and absentmindedly I SCROLLED down my book! It was here I laughed but it made me shocked, had I disengaged with the world so much, such a primal piece of myself lost? So from here on I carry a book again, I make a conscious effort to read it without distractions and absorb the story’s and dog ear the pages and ground myself in different worlds all over again, a connection with only myself and in doing so, the world around me feels more real, more present.
It was here I found myself in Starbucks in Victoria Coach Station, my head deeply slung over ‘where the heart is by Billie Letts’ when feeling peaceful I reached out for my pencil case, my sketchbook in front of me, a desire to create with this grounded feeling. As I created my drawing of tulips in a pot I felt eyes watching me, a man behind me creening to have a little look at what I was doing, as I proceeded to draw and twist and turn my sketchbook and better lean on my pencils a small voice said ‘your drawing is very beautiful’ I turned and smiled at the man and thanked him, he had very kind eyes. ‘ it is so nice’ he said ‘to see someone not lost to their phone’ we proceed to chat about where he was going on the coach and how he could be more creative, the family he is seeing this week, the travels he wished he had taken when he was younger, how he got caught up in the rat race of life and how happy he is now to be so engaged with life and his desires, but he said to me ‘do it now, before you are too tired’ ‘don’t wait’ he smiled again, toothy and wide ‘do it now and be in every moment’ he was so kind and friendly and waved goodbye as I got my coach, my cowboy and Mariachi hats in tow, my sketchbook in my backpack. A big toothy grin, the only man I noted, lost in a book at Starbucks and not lost in his phone, a man who seemed lost in the world of his imagination, he smiled as he read.
I want to be just like that, lost in my creative places, grounded in stories and the earth and the world, chatting with strangers and making smiles, noticing the beauty around me. Today I challenge you to talk to a stranger, share a smile, have a moment where you are completely lost in conversation.
It made my day to share a smile with a stranger, i hope it makes yours too.
Until next time gorgeous people,
Love from
Bitsifind x