Last week, I finally got to watch the movie Eat, Pray, Love starring the always fantastic Julia Roberts and the ever dreamy James Franco and Javier Bardem. *sigh*
I am slightly ashamed to say that I have the book and have never read it. I do have great intentions on reading it one day...as soon as I finish reading Decision Points, that is.
One of my goals for this Summer is to read atleast 3 books. I already have them, they're just collecting dust waiting on me to crack them open. They are:
I am really anxious to get back into reading and I have my box of tissues ready for the last one. :o)
Anyways, back to EPL (I actually typed EPT first,..which is a whole 'nother subject. It made me LOL when I did it, because it reminded me of Taylor's post the other day. Check her out, btw...she's awesome!)
Ok, back to my original thought...like I said, I have had the book for a while. I think I borrowed it from my sister or picked it up second-hand somewhere. Regardless, I really had no idea what it was about when I decided to rent the movie the other night. Well, let me just say that I am so glad that I did. It was an absolutely wonderful movie! That's the best movie I've seen Julia Roberts in, in a long time! You can tell that she just completely engrossed herself in that character...as she did in Erin Brockovich. I did not even realize that it was a true story until after I saw the movie and did a Google search to find a pic to put on this post.
So, the basic idea of the movie is a woman is in a marriage and has totally lost herself. She is unhappy and not sure what to do. She realized that the man she's married to is not the one for her. They end up divorcing and she takes a year off and travels to several places in the world to heal and discover herself. Along the way she learns about herself, the things that make her happy and dealt with her broken heart and healed it in the end with true love. It's a great concept. Unfortunately, most of us who have regular jobs, children and husbands can't just take off and travel around the world for a year. However, I think it is important to make sure that we find and keep a good balance in our lives so we don't get to that low of a point. I know that I have been thru some of the same things that she (Elizabeth Gilbert) experienced. I have found a way over the past year to heal myself. It has involved figuring out what I really want out of life, finding ways to make myself happy without depending on someone else for my happiness, getting into shape so I feel better about myself and trying out new things (like this blog) to figure out who I really am.
How often in life we get so busy trying to be the best girlfriend/wife, mother, friend, daughter, sister, employee/boss to everyone, that we forget to be the best for ourself as well. It is difficult to find and keep a good balance between it all...but as I learned from the movie..it's possible.
Here are a few small things that I think can really help:
-Take a few minutes for yourself each day.
Whether it be getting up a few minutes earlier than the rest of the house and enjoying a few sips of coffee in the quiet...or enjoying a nice bubble bath in the evening after everyone else in bed. Even 5 minutes make a world of difference.
-Treat yourself to something every now and then.
It doesn't have to be expensive to make you feel good. Sometimes the simplest things can put a smile on your face....a new pair of sunglasses, a mani/pedi or even a nice dinner out (or even at home) with that special someone.
-Don't sweat the small, unimportant things.
Every now and then we let certain people or situations get us upset and stressed, when if we actually take a step back and re-evaluate, we'd realize that it's just not worth it. Pick and choose the things that we let occupy our thoughts by what is really important and let the other stuff just fall away. Like they said in the movie "Send them light and love..and then let it go."
Most importantly:
Establishing and maintaining a relationship with God is the best way to heal one's self and find the path that you're meant to follow in life. It has been the key for me! :o)
I know that I have rambled on waaaay to much (sorry) but I hope that maybe you can navigate away from the post now feeling even the smallest big motivated, encouraged and/or uplifted.
Happy Monday!
--Lissa
Weird... this just showed up in my blogger feed. Did you just post this?
ReplyDeleteI haven't read the book or watched the movie. The whole concept of a woman leaving her husband to "find herself" I found a little off putting. But I didn't realize she was already divorced when she started on her journey... Anyways, maybe I'll add it to my long list of chick flicks I want to coerce Nate to watch. =)
Anyways, on to your list of motivational topics. =) All four of those are soooo important!! It's easy to forget one or two of those and that always seems to be when life catches up to me and I get all overwhelmed.