I am currently reading a book by Elizabeth Gilbert entitled "Eat, Pray, Love," a #1 New York Times bestseller. It is about her struggle and triumph in leaving her husband, home, and the "all American life" as she knew it, simply because it was not what she wanted anymore. She spent about a year traveling first to Italy to learn Italian, something she has wanted to always do, then to India, and then to the Indonesian island of Bali. Everyone thought she was crazy to leave everything behind, but she knew this was what she wanted, and what she needed. I had heard so many great things about this book, so I decided to buy it, and am currently still in the Italy (aka "Eat") part. So far, it is a great book. She writes about topics that many women can relate to. For example:
"Moreover, I have boundary issues with men. Or maybe that's not fair to say. To have issues with boundaries, one must have boundaries in the first place, right? But I disappear into the person I love. I am the permeable membrane. If I love you, you can have everything. You can have my time, my devotion, my ass, my money, my family, my dog, my dog's money, my dog's time -- everything. If I love you, I will carry for you all your pain, I will assume for you all your debts (in every definition of the word), I will protect you from your own insecurity, I will project upon you all sorts of good qualities that you have never actually cultivated in yourself and I will buy Christmas presents for your entire family. I will give you the sun and the rain, and if they are not available, I will give you a sun check and a rain check. I will give you all this and more, until I get so exhausted and depleted that the only way I can recover my energy is by becoming infatuated with someone else."
That's pretty bad, right? Becoming so deeply absorbed in the life of another, and not retaining your personal qualities that make you you, cannot be good!
That is just my two cents. Now back to writing my Seminar paper!
