By: Lisa Chellman,
on 1/9/2009
Final words from The Day I Became an Autodidact, by Kendall Hailey, which I shall at last return to the library:
Happiness is like everything else. The more experience you have, the better you get at it.
By: Lisa Chellman,
on 1/8/2009
I swear I'll stop quoting The Day I Became an Autodidact, by Kendall Hailey, soon... if only because I'm nearing the end. But I can't resist sharing a couple more passages that speak to the uncertainty of life and pursuing one's dreams:
I feel I am kind of poised—waiting for life to begin. But what if this has been life all along? What if it never gets any realer? I keep attributing this feeling to youth, but what if I go through my whole life without ever feeling it really began?
I suppose the ugly truth is that life begins the moment you're born. And it is asking too much of it to request that it always live up to its reputation of being real. (p. 238)
And this:
One of my worst fears is of what I will be in the future. Not really of what will happen to me, but of what it will turn me into. If none of my dreams comes true, will I be embarrassed to keep dreaming? It takes courage to fulfill dreams, but I think even more if we can't.
The world is much too random a place for any of us ever to end up with exactly what we want, but then very few of us are bright enough to know exactly what we want. I just hope that if I go through life without getting what I think I want, it will not change me. (p. 240)
