Around the time I turned 30 years old, I was feeling a little or should I say a whole lot lost. I was living on my own in Toronto at a job that I didn't despise, yet didn't quite flourish in either. I had made several self-depricating choices and mistakes in regards to friends, boyfriends, roommates and jobs. My mom once told me that when I was young, I would always choose whatever bad kid was in the class and bring them home as my best friend. Over and over, I would get hurt but seemed to derive great pleasure in helping people or having someone to need me.
After a devastating failed relationship, I noticed a pattern in my behaviour and just how much I had let others control how I felt during and after the end of a relationship.
I stumbled upon Eat, Pray, Love by chance. I rarely watch television but had happened to be home early from work one day and flipped past Oprah. I halted the channel when I heard Elizabeth Gilbert's story. It was then that I decided I must read this book she was discussing, based on her life, as so much of what she was saying resonated within myself and really spoke to my situation and stage in life.
I stumbled upon Eat, Pray, Love by chance. I rarely watch television but had happened to be home early from work one day and flipped past Oprah. I halted the channel when I heard Elizabeth Gilbert's story. It was then that I decided I must read this book she was discussing, based on her life, as so much of what she was saying resonated within myself and really spoke to my situation and stage in life.
From an outsider, Gilbert seemed to have the typical American dream...she was in her thirties, married, beautiful home and career as a writer. The dreaded question that every thirty year old woman has to endure almost as often as there is another load of laundry to do is when or why you are not pregnant. Secretly, she was rejoicing every month she realized she was not. Gilbert went through a depression as her marriage ended and she discovered through this hilarious and touching self-introspection, that she really wanted to find a way to be responsible for her own contentment.
The next year was spent travelling through Italy, where she learned the pleasure of Italian culture, beauty, passion and food (EAT). She then spent the next four months in India where she practiced the art of devotion with help from a spiritual guru (PRAY). She ends the year in Bali, Indonesia where she meets a very wise and elderly medicine man, and fell in love in a very unexpected way. (LOVE).
Now, Gilbert, a seemingly average American, has a second novel following "Eat, Pray, Love" entitled "Committed". Her best selling book of self-discovery throughout 3 areas in the world that begin with the letter "I", has made it to Hollywood where none other than Julia Roberts plays her role.
Here is the trailer to the movie, but I am a firm believer that the book is always better!
Enjoy.
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