4 posts tagged “life changing”
(Background: This was a life-changing piece that I read for the first time in high school, and then found again much later on, during college, when I had the benefit of some semblance of adulthood and at the very least, a few years of college behind me. If there has ever been a piece of writing that has affected me profoundly, and caused me to absolutely go about achieving my goals differently, this was it.)
The Station
Robert J. Hastings
"Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision.
We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent.
We are traveling by train. Out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.
But uppermost in our minds is the final designation. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering - waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.
'When we reach the station, that will be it!' we cry. 'When I'm 18.' 'When I buy a new 450 SL Mercedes Benz!' 'When I put the last kid through college.' 'When I have paid off the mortgage!' 'When I get a promotion.' 'When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever after!'
Sooner or later we must realize that there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.
'Relish the moment' is a good motto. It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are the twin thieves who rob us of today.
So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough."
It's amazing how one tiny, seemingly insignificant thing can make you feel like everything around you has changed.
It's going to be a great week!!
I've adopted a few new mantras over the last week or so, and I'm trying to actively apply them.
I know that in the past, it's been easy to take life, and myself, too seriously. It's been too easy to overestimate the negative effects of things, and difficult to see the good. So, new mantra number one: Everything is going to be fine! Everything will work out the way it's supposed to. Will I get into medical school? Hell if I know at this point. I hope so, but at this point, I'm doing everything that I can do. I can have a fantastic interview, and then it's out of my hands. So, why spend time worrying it? There is nothing I can do to change my performance, my application, etc. Everything will work out in a way that makes sense. I'm blessed in that if I don't get in, there are lots of other things that I can do with my life.
The other mantra, the one that is really changing the way I interact with my world, is: Don't panic! Panic is a useless emotion! And it's true. When you panic, you tend to go through the same steps over and over. It will drive you crazy, repeating things and expecting different results. I am far better off channeling my energies into solving the problem in a novel way, and if that doesn't work, then by trying something else. The systematic elimination of approaches will at least tell you what doesn't work.
So, I've become much more calm and relaxed lately and it feels good. Of course, with half a drink in me now, I'm very calm and relaxed. So, you know. Whatever.
What are five books that changed your life?
Inspired by Ms. Genevieve.
1.
Contact, by Carl Sagan
I read this around my confirmation in high school, and it was just as I was really getting into my science classes, particularly biology and chemistry, and just as I was really considering a career in medicine. I was beginning to question the role that religion might play in my life, as a Jewish scientist. From what I know about Sagan, he wrote this book as he was dying of cancer, and he began the book an atheist, but came out almost certainly changed. I'm not sure he actually believed in G-d, but I think he was maybe more open to the possibility. Anyway, this is my comfort book. It's the book I read to feel better about my life choices. It's a book that helps me reconcile the miracles of the scientific universe with my belief in something bigger than all of us.
2.
The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman
Mr. Pullman is a phenomenal author. I've read almost everything he's ever written, but this is truly his masterpiece. The brilliant finale of an ethereal trilogy, he carves words into structures, lights, and sounds. This book tends toward challenging the religious establishment, encouraging the characters, and the readers along with them, to "build the Republic of Heaven where we are." It's a book about impossible choices and sacrifice, of love and humanity. It is a book that challenges the reader to look for meaning in their beliefs, and to abandon blind faith.
3.
Summer Sisters, by Judy Blume
I don't remember what initially drew me to this book. I read it at a highly transitional time in my life, maybe the summer before I left for college. I think it struck me because I found myself wondering so much what would become of the friends I would leave behind. I wasn't certain that I could maintain my old life and my new. The main character in this book is a lot like me in many ways, coming from a family most assuredly not without flaws, paving her own way, relying on little but her own intellect and hard work. I take different things out of the book each time I read it. The last time, my lessons were centered mostly around how our childhood loves are important, but that it's okay for them not to be the loves of our lives, even if we want them to be.
4.
Bee Season, by Myla Goldberg
Some books just strike you. This was the first book I read cover-to-cover in less than 24 hours since Harry Potter 6. It's another "quirky family" book, and about how the changes in the family dynamic affect every member of a family. It explores achievement and criminal activity, religious cults, and mysticism. Myla Goldberg is another author whose words can't help but to paint pictures, and to make the whole world a mural of human emotion.
5.
The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
It's too soon to tell how exactly life-changing this book will be. Suffice it to say that it makes one reexamine love and loss, and I cried for about the last 50 pages.
