Words I Wish I Had Written
March 19, 2007
"I think about the woman I have become lately, about the life that I am now living, and about how much I always wanted to be this person and live this life, liberated from the farce of pretending to be anyone other than myself. I think of everything I endured before getting here and wonder if it was me – I mean, this happy and balanced me…who pulled the other, younger, more confused and more struggling me forward during all those hard years. The younger me was the acorn full of potential, but it was the older me, the already-existent oak, who was saying the whole time: ‘Yes – grow! Change! Evolve! Come and meet me here, where I already exist in wholeness and maturity! I need you to grow into me!’…Knowing already that everything would be OK, that everything would eventually bring us together here. Right here, right to this moment. Where I was always waiting in peace and contentment, always waiting for her to arrive and join me."
-Elizabeth Gilbert, from Eat, Pray, Love
i have got to get this book. i have been wanting to read it.
i just started writing random things in a new journal yesterday and it what is said above [but my words and thoughts]. but reading this, it just brings it home.
how are you chickie?
Oooooh, I just started this book last night. She’s hilarious! My favorite line is actually her sister: “Having a baby is like getting a tattoo on your face. You’d better be really sure you want one.”
;o)
xo,
Kate
This is my favorite quote from this book as well, and I’ve emailed it to so many people. I love reading it again here. I wonder if EG knew how profound this sentiment was when she wrote it or if it just rolled out of her without much effort? Either way, my world will never be the same. i love you,
p
this was by far one of my favorite reads last year. rumor has it that they’re turning it into a movie. i’m not sure how i feel about that. i love the book so, so much. her other book, Last American Man, is facinating, though it has a totally different writing voice than ELP.
xoxo
i can remember the exact moment i read these words myself. it was last july. we had gone to colorado and i woke up early one morning, took my book and a journal, walked to the stream and sat on a rock reading. when i came to those words the tears started flowing and wouldn’t stop. i knew her words were true. i knew my older self was doing the same thing and i felt the most amazing love. thank you for reminding me of that moment.
ahhh, i am LOVING all these posts! and this book. and i hear a whisper of a book collaboration?!!! xoxo to you, m
Everyone tells me to get this book. And now I know why. Thanks for sharing!
LOVE Eat, Pray, Love. Such an amazing book. Thank you for bringing that quote back to me.
What a fabulous passage, I am some days more like the one waiting in certainty and comfort with myself, and other days more like the younger, unsettled, unsure self – still being drawn towards that place. I’ve talked about this with my 80 year old Grandma and she still has a little of each in her so I think for the women of my family it must be a lifelong process.
Thanks for the wonderful words.
God I loved that book. I borrowed it from the library, but am now thinking I must own it to go back over it time and time again.
It left me uplifted and feeling like the world was bursting with possibility. Good quote!
xoxo
p
I think I picked this book up in every bookstore where I stopped on my recent book tour. But I kept reminding myself my suitcase was too heavy already. Now that I’m home, and you’ve tantalized me with that paragraph, I know I have to buy it.