Shifting interests

One of my favorite things to do is sit down with a stack of magazines and spend the afternoon or evening catching up on my reading.

Correction: one of my favorite things that I used to like to do was ...

Last night while Daniel was watching The Replacements for the second time that day, I sat down on the couch with my March issue of Self magazine, intent on catching up on some old reading. Then something weird happened. Impatiently I flipped through the pages, restless almost. Not because the issue was old. It's normal for me to be 3 to 6 months behind in my reading, and it's never bothered me before. Suddenly I felt slightly disinterested in what I was reading. Like the content in the magazine didn't apply to me anymore.

Why? Well, for starters, there's always a section on career/job. I have no career or job to speak of, so that content no longer applies to me. Then there are the fashion spreads. I no longer buy clothes. So to me the fashion pages just mock me. This is what's new and trendy but SORRY! You can't afford it. That's what I see when I flip through those pages. Hair and makeup? Blah. I never do anything/rarely go anywhere, which means I don't have a need to try out any new hairstyles. And even when I do leave the house (grocery shopping, to meet old coworkers for lunch), I rarely put on makeup. Maybe some mascara. But that's a big maybe. Men/relationship content: not interested. Now that I'm no longer trying to figure out a man, I don't have an interest in reading about men/relationships.

That leaves nutrition/fitness. That's about the only content that keeps my attention these days. And even then I only skim the pages for good recipes or interesting workouts.

I guess the plus side of my shifting interests is that when it comes time to renew my subscriptions, I need not bother. And that means more money in my pocket at the end of the day.