Do you guys remember that one time, when I promised you a book of the month review for February all about “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert? Well, I may be a tiny bit late coming out with this review this time around, but never fear! Today is THE day!! How excited are you? I know I am! I’m FINALLY getting around to getting this post out and it’s only taken me about 6,454,475 years to do so. Just know that I sincerely apologize for the delay, life somehow got in the way these past few ever-so-changing weeks.
Random side note for you: As I’m typing out this post, it’s currently thundering, dark and early in the AM with my coffee in hand and dogs on my side. I’m really not quite sure what could make for a better time to do a book review post, but this just might take the cake. 😉
Alright, alright–that’s enough of the rambling! Who’s ready to hear how Big Magic went? Let’s just jump right on into the good stuff.
I started this book at the beginning of February and finished it up right at the very end of the month. I listened to it on Audible, as I love to do. My favorite audiobooks are the ones that are read by the actual author themselves because it feels like you can really hear how they intended you to read the book. Their passion, their feelings and everything else is behind every word and you can really feel it through every single chapter as you go along. It helps me dive deeper into the books than I feel like I would otherwise.
I also feel like I should probably admit something here, which some of you may already know. I kind of have a mild obsession with the movie (and book), “Eat, Pray, Love“. I’ve talked about it here before on the blog, but I feel like I should mention it again in today’s post as we’re talking about the same author here, Elizabeth Gilbert. There’s just something that I love about her writing and something that really sucked me in after reading and watching “Eat, Pray, Love“. Something about the journeys she takes you on through each story is fascinating to me. I must just really love her style of writing. That doesn’t mean I’m sucked into every single book she has though, be warned. I just wanted to give you a good solid idea of where I was coming from on this review, just in case!
Initially when I started off with this book, I was somewhat thrown off. I came into it feeling like it was going to be some sort of a personal development book that leaves you feeling all sparkly with motivation and inspiration to jump up out of bed and get to being your most creative self every single day. But, to be honest, I didn’t quite feel that right off the bat when I started this book. Let’s just say it can somewhat take a little bit to get into it, shall we?
So, I kept going and getting more into it as the chapters went on. In my opinion, it DOES get better the second half of the book and dives more into sending you down those creative thinking paths. Basically, Elizabeth talks a lot about how when you’re a writer you struggle with finding your creative passion during your writing journey. At first I just kept thinking, “Well, I’m definitely NOT an author and won’t ever be one…so can I even relate to this book?” But, the truth is, I did end up relating to it. She talks about giving yourself grace basically and trusting in the path that you’re on right now. She talks about not letting the feelings of others judgements on you take a toll on how you, well in lack of better terms, “do you”. I love that! I feel like I’m always telling myself to just “be me and all else will work itself out.” Anyone else do the same thing? I just feel like if we can’t be ourselves, then what else can we be? Maybe not everyone else will be into what you are, but at the end of the day, that’s A-OK with me! This world wouldn’t go around very well if we were all the exact same human beings walking around, am I right? We need creativity and differences and opinions and different expressions of each other! That’s what makes things interesting and changing and growing all the time. I feel like when you break out of your comfort zone and talk to someone that has different likes or opinions than you do, that you’re able to broaden your perspective and grow in those times! You get to learn even more about yourself too where you get to know where you truly stand on things and how you really want to be in the end. I say all of this to say that basically this book is, in my opinion, mostly about growth and embracing your true you.
She tells you there will be bumps in the road along the way, which is life and that’s to be expected. But, she says to learn from those bumps along the way and just to trust the path that we’re being led down. It’s not like we can really get off this train anyways, so to embrace the moment we’re in and seek out the good stuff as often as possible. She also brings up that it’s never too late to find your passions, no matter your age or circumstances. I really loved that! I feel like we often get so stuck on our ages and feel like we’re running behind or it’s maybe to late to start something new, but that couldn’t be more false! If something isn’t bringing us joy anymore, we can start over anytime we’d like and I love to live my life with that mindset!
She talks about listening to what really sparks your inspiration too. You know those times when you’re working on something and all of a sudden at 2AM something wakes you up and you’re filled with ALL kinds of creative ideas? Yeah, I’ve had that happen more times than I can count. Those are the times when you really dig your heels in deep and soak it all in. She talks about embracing those moments and knowing that they’ll come often, but they’ll also go too, which is okay too! We all can find our passions and see them go when they’re meant to go too! I feel like this really relates a lot to health and fitness quite a bit! A lot of people try to force themselves to do something they genuinely don’t like to do and find themselves starting off strong and then end up hating it 2 weeks down the road. This doesn’t mean you can’t have passion for something, you just have to listen to your body and know what’s best for you and what makes you happy at the end of the day.
Overall, I’d say this book is a good read. It’s tricky to get into at first, but it definitely sparks some inspiration. It’s not all just about being an author but it does stick to that storyline quite a bit which I found a little tricky. It’s more of what you can pick out that really stands out to you, to me. I’m glad to have read this one, but it’s probably not one that I feel like I’ll re-visit much now that it’s done. It was good, but I feel like I’ve taken bit more from others more so than this book.
I hope this doesn’t steal your motivation to dive into this one, because I say, go for it! Give it a shot and see what you can take from it and let me know what you think when you finish! I’d love to hear what you learn from it and can see from your perspective. Just like Elizabeth talks about, we’re all different and have different likes and dislikes, so you may be the biggest fan or the worst critic of this one! But, it’s worth the read to find out!
AND NOW, it’s time for the March Book of the Month. (Well…. a tiny bit late of course! ;))
I’m reading “Present Over Perfect” by Shauna Niequist. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this one and am all about simplifying, especially lately! So, I can’t wait to see how this one goes and let you know what I think! Here’s hoping I’ll get this one done a lot earlier than I did “Big Magic”. Surely, I will!
Alright, and that’s a wrap on this book review! I hope it helped give you an idea of what this book brings, at least from my perspective! I encourage you to take a stab at it and see what you think when you dive into it. Make sure to comment below if you’ve read this one and tell me your thoughts! OR if you’ve read Present Over Perfect, I’d love to know that too!! Share away, friends!!
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I hope you have a fabulous Monday you guys!! Do something extra special just for you today to celebrate a new week! I’m off to start my second week of work at this new job, so fingers crossed all goes well!
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Questions for YOU today:
What was your latest read? Did you love it or hate it?
How was your weekend? Anything super exciting happen? Did you watch March Madness games?
Have you read Big Magic or Present Over Perfect before?