As a writer it’s hard for me not to love the book Eat Pray Love. As a woman, far from Elizabeth Gilbert (the author of Eat Pray Love)  in age as I may be, it’s even harder not to identify with her and her story. Her path in life feels so similar to mine and it reminds me that ultimately, we are all pretty much the same. We want the same basic things, we fear the same essential fears, we have, at heart, the same intrinsic needs. Her journey, encapsulated in her memoir, takes her through Italy, India, and Indonesia – Bali, as it were. Three places I have always wanted to go. As she travels she talks, she listens, and she seems to learn. The stories she tells about her year traveling are all about finding herself and Liz has her own unique means of coming back home from a messy divorce. In Italy she spend her time recovering – just learning how to feel – which she does mostly through food, and who’s to say an extra few pounds aren’t exactly the way to feel extremely alive, nourished and grounded? In India she meditates, finds herself, finds god, and realizes there isn’t much difference between the two. Bali is a place of returning to love – not just for herself but for someone new as well.

The book is lovely, a favorite of mine for years now, and hits home in all the right places. Liz talks about her journeys, her travels, her dreams and hopes. She talks about her divorce, walking away from a perfectly formed life to start something new, and wondering about all the decisions she’s made. I love her writing about her decision to remain childfree, another quality she and I share, because it reminds me that my decision in the same regard is what holds true for me. Her book is honest, authentic, and written in 108 segments – all of them pieces of her and of her year. The movie, which I saw tonight, was just as good.

I won’t review the movie because I don’t like critiquing work that wouldn’t be possible for me to accomplish without a decade and several million dollars at my disposal – but for the record I cried and laughed in all the same places I did in the book and though I recognized the parts that were adapted for the screen, as opposed to those that held true to Liz, I still loved every minute of it. I highly recommend seeing it.

More soon.

Marie

Yes. I’ve had blogs before. I love blogging. I love putting my life out there in the world because I’m always hoping that something I’ve done or experienced or completely screwed over in my life can help someone else with something that they’re going through. Because I’m human and your human and that means we’ve probably got some stuff in common. But whenever things get stressful or rough in my life, my blog (and my writing in general) is first to go, always sacrificed to all the other important things that I have to get solved, fixed, or moved off the to-do list. And right now I’m stressed out more than ever. I’m starting classes again and I’m taking more than what would be considered a “normal” course load. I’m working a job that stresses me out beyond all reason and figuring out how to make my bills while also trying to find money to pay for school. And on top of all of that I’m still struggling with the idea of myself as a writer.

I turned off this blog months ago when I was in the middle of a huge dip in my life and now that I’m threatened with the possibility of taking on more than I have in years I think I need something to keep myself sane. So this time instead of turning away from my writing I’m stepping back into it with hope that it will help me, and maybe (somehow) you too.

Welcome – to mariewrites.