Yesterday I finished reading a novel that was both captivating and stomach turning. Maybe it’s the mood I’m in right now but I wasn’t prepared for the rawness of this story. The book is called “The Song Of The Blue Bottle Tree” by India Hanford.

The author weaves together the stories of multiple people in 1967 including a snake handling preacher who abuses and molests women and girls in his life, a Vietnam veteran who comes home fighting a different kind of war, and a woman whose story is rich and unpredictable.

I liked the book but there were times the abuse theme was too much to absorb. Luckily, I didn’t dwell long in this oppressive world because the story was so well told I didn’t want to put the book down and it ended quickly.

When I told my fella all this, he asked if I was glad to have read it.

My answer was this:

Literature is not always meant to be comfortable.

If you are always completely comfortable with what you’re reading, it’s time to try some new books. Yes, we read to entertain ourselves but we ought to also be reading to expand our minds and learn about something that is different than the world we know.

The world does not owe us comfort. This applies to books and movies, to jobs or teachers that push us further than we wish to go, to the historic record that we don’t like, and the contemporary events that drive us to change the channel when the news comes on.

I have been thinking some about solo hikes and road trip adventures. These things didn’t always come easy but I did them anyway and am better for it.

Discomfort is where the growth begins. Trust me. I have experience in this area.

I know people who read just one genre and watch only certain kinds of tv shows. They vacation in the same place year after year and stick to the same blandly scripted series of safe choices.

I hope to never be that person.

Let’s all vow to try new things when we can, to open our minds to the things that make us think, and to refuse to accept comfort when we can instead choose growth.