This week I have been reading “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig. The story is about a woman who decides that she wants to die and in the process, she lands in a giant library filled with books. One of the books is the Book of Regrets. It’s an overwhelming volume of all the things she regretted doing or not doing. The Book of Regrets guides her decisions in opening any of the other books which allow her to explore the life she’d be living had she not made that particular choice. If at any time she is exploring a particular life, she finds its not the right one, it brings her back to the library. I am just getting to the good parts but in a couple of the lives she explores, in the few I have read; she makes some interesting observations that I will share via quotes from the book.
‘Bertrand Russell wrote that ‘To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three-parts dead’. Maybe that was her problem. Maybe she was just scared of living.’ – Nora Seed in The Midnight Library
This is profound. Maybe she chose to die and ended up in the library because she was afraid to live the life different choices would have taken her on because she was scared. I think we all feel this way from time to time. We are presented with some amazing opportunities but often we choose not to pursue them because they are seriously fucking scary! But you know, we are dragons, and dragons can burn up that fear with the flame of confidence and strength! So, come on dragons who is with me? Do something scary. I will share with you if you share with all of us. I embarked on the journey to publish my poetry today, after 14 years. In part this is because of all of you; because you have embraced my poetry, and I thank you. I am no longer afraid of sharing.
In the next life she explored, one of which she continued to pursue swimming, she became an Olympic athlete and retired with tons of records. She later became a public speaker, and while she was in the life she could have had, (I should note that when she joins the alternate life, she does not have much of the context of that life), she had to give a speech and she was not prepared so she just winged it. This is part of what she said:
‘If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. Aim to be you. Aim to look and act and think like you. Aim to be the truest version of you. Embrace that you-ness. Endorse it. Love it. Work hard at it. And do not give a second thought when people mock it or ridicule it. Most gossip is envy in disguise. Keep your head down. Keep your stamina. Keep swimming . . .’ Nora Seed – The Midnight Library
Wow isn’t this spot on. How much of our lives have we spent trying to be something we weren’t because someone else wanted us to be different? I sure know I did until I didn’t. One day, when my first marriage was failing, I contacted my maid of honor to tell her I had asked my husband for a divorce and to tell her how hurt because she had not been there in those tumultuous three years, but when she explained that she could not be around me, because I wasn’t me it was like getting hit upside the head with a frying pan. It all made sense. I had given up so much of myself away to be what he wanted, that I lost me. After that I said never again. Have you had one of those epiphanies?
Alright, one more. In her next life journey, she was exploring a life that included much solitude. As she explored that life, she was keenly aware of the value of solitude, how she could be in tune and hear everything the world was trying to tell her. She recalled:
‘If one advances confidently,’ Thoreau had written in Walden, ‘in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.’ He’d also observed that part of this success was the product of being alone. ‘I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” Nora Seed – the Midnight Library
Clearly sometimes we must have solitude to understand who we are and where we are going. Make time for yourselves Dragons and find answers in the solitude you cultivate for yourselves. I find I am most at peace and in tune with who I am than in the quiet of the woods with only the sound of nature around me. Where do you get your solitude dragons?
This book has been incredibly insightful and thought provoking. If you like to read, this is an amazing book. I started on Sunday and am halfway through. I am sure that the remaining discoveries to come will be just as thought provoking. Don’t you just love a book that or concept that opens your mind to amazing possibilities and stirs the imagination? One last thought:
“All good things are wild and free.” From Howl, a song by Nora Seed (and quote by Thoreau) in the Midnight Library
Have an amazing day everyone. Be you, be fierce, be brave, be kind, kick ass, be good, wild and free.
Peace ☮️ Love ❤️
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