Women in their 30s, seeking
Jun. 25th, 2007 07:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rsadelleA couple of months ago I read Julie Powell's Julie and Julia, which is the story of the year Julie Powell turned 30, in which she freaked out and decided to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year, and to blog about it.
A month later, I read Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, which is the story of the year following Elizabeth Gilbert's divorce, in which she freaked out and decided to live for four months each in Italy, India, and Indonesia.
I wasn't very far into Eat Pray Love before I realized what it was that hooked me about both books: these women are just like me. In surface ways, they very much aren't: they're both from New York, both straight, both married at the beginning of the story, both contemplating having kids at the beginning of the story. But when it comes to what their books are about, they are. They're women in their 30s (okay, I'm not quite there yet) seeking peace, meaning, and happiness. Julie Powell cooked and blogged; Elizabeth Gilbert traveled to eat, pray, and love; I'm simplifying my life and focusing on what brings me meaning and joy. My journey doesn't fit within the same kind of neat time frame theirs do, but it brings me to the same place nonetheless. I know that inner peace is with me if I just take the time and space to notice it; I have faith; I know what brings meaning to me; and I am happy (as much as anyone can talk about being happy, given that happiness, as the cliche goes, is a journey, not a destination).
A month later, I read Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, which is the story of the year following Elizabeth Gilbert's divorce, in which she freaked out and decided to live for four months each in Italy, India, and Indonesia.
I wasn't very far into Eat Pray Love before I realized what it was that hooked me about both books: these women are just like me. In surface ways, they very much aren't: they're both from New York, both straight, both married at the beginning of the story, both contemplating having kids at the beginning of the story. But when it comes to what their books are about, they are. They're women in their 30s (okay, I'm not quite there yet) seeking peace, meaning, and happiness. Julie Powell cooked and blogged; Elizabeth Gilbert traveled to eat, pray, and love; I'm simplifying my life and focusing on what brings me meaning and joy. My journey doesn't fit within the same kind of neat time frame theirs do, but it brings me to the same place nonetheless. I know that inner peace is with me if I just take the time and space to notice it; I have faith; I know what brings meaning to me; and I am happy (as much as anyone can talk about being happy, given that happiness, as the cliche goes, is a journey, not a destination).