eat, pray, love "italy"

i am reading eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert, and finding so many things that i love about it. i wanted to write a 3 part blog post about my response to the book and favorite quotes. so here goes part 1.

italy

"This was not my moment to be seeking romance and (as day follows night) to further complicate my already knotty life. This was my moment to look for the kind of healing and peace that can only come from solitude. (pg 8)"

this was the first quote that struck me. it struck me because it's what i'm going through. i find that i can be a needy, emotional person. i have before thought that the way to heal is to replace. but this is the first time i have not done that. i am going to heal myself, and it can only come from solitude. this is so hard for me, since i am so used to being surrounded or always with a significant other. but i know it's true, and it's working. i can stay home on a friday night, and read a book on the porch until it's time to go to bed. i'll admit that i'm still working on it, and there are times that loneliness and depression creep in, but i try to remind them that they are not invited to my private party.


"Still, despite all this, traveling is the great true love of my life...I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless newborn baby-I just don't care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it's mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to--I just don't care. (pg 41)"

i have always known that i wanted to travel. it's such a deep rooted dream, and sometimes i feel that it will not be possible. because of my family upbringing, and our financial situations, we haven't gone on a long of vacations. i wish we had, though. this is why now, at the age of 19, i am passionate and adamant about going to england. i know i will, and even though the thought of going somewhere completely new, where no one knows your name terrifies the you know what out of me, i still want to go. because it is a part of me.


"Never forget that once upon a time, in an unguarded moment, you recognized yourself as a friend. (pg 55)"

i think i forget this a lot. in times when i feel ultimately alone, i don't realize that i have myself. i can be my own best friend. ya know, sometimes having a conversation with your self is therapeutic, and not at all crazy (depending on what you consider "crazy"). you need to love yourself, and treat yourself the way you would a best friend.


"All I had to do was ask myself every day, for the first time in my life, "What would you enjoy doing today Liz? What would bring you pleasure right now?" With nobody else's agenda to consider and no other obligations to worry about, this question finally became distilled and absolutely self-specific. (pg 63)"

i have now decided to ask myself that question every single morning. what would you like to do today, sierra? life is too short to try and go through it doing things for other people. do it for yourself. define happiness for yourself, and then go out there and do it.


"When I get lonely these days, I think: So be lonely, Liz. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again use another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings. (pg 65)"

this quote is similar to the first one, but i love the wording. just be. be lonely. be happy. be celibate. be scared. be depressed. but whatever you do, just be. but don't ever use another person to try and fill that hole in you. getting with an ex, or having a fling won't make you feel any better, so just deal with the loneliness, and learn how to be lonely.

so be lonely, sierra.