....accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle."
"How will I know which is which?"
"By the taste. You can only know a good wine if you have first tasted a bad one." -Paulo Coelho, Brida
This quote seems fitting, if you take in consideration the name of my blog. Even more reason to apply it to my life, no? Recently, someone asked me what's the craziest thing I've ever done. I went through everything in my head and I couldn't think of anything "crazy". He pointed out that my profile says I would try anything once. This is really true, I think everything deserves a chance but once you do it, it doesn't seem so crazy anymore. I've been to a shooting range, skiing, went white water rafting, climbed a mountain, went to a monkey park, played a geisha for a few hours, sang and danced in front of over 500 people. None of that seems crazy though. I would do every single one of those again. For some people, getting on a plane to go across the world is crazy. I've been told I'm crazy for some things I never even thought twice about doing. So what is really considered crazy?
I think we relate "crazy" with our fears. As I've progressed in my Paulo Coelho reading list, most of the characters in his books seem to go through some major revelation. They've all had to face some kind of fear where in the end they triumph and have some kind of major epiphany. I started Brida this week and as I read it, I realize that everything in life deserves a chance. This book talks a lot about the paths that people come across in life. This quote seemed to resonate when I read it, "when you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way." When I leave this earth I know I won't regret the things I've done. I'm pretty sure I'll fixate more on the things I didn't do, the people I held back with, and the opportunities I let pass me by. We all have a bucket list, what's on yours?
I leave you with one last quote from the book that I'm still dissecting. "Choosing a path meant having to miss out on others. She had a whole life to live, and she was always thinking that, in the future, she might regret the choices she made now. 'I’m afraid of committing myself,' she thought to herself. She wanted to follow all possible paths and so ended up following none. Even in that most important area of her life, love, she had failed to commit herself. After her first romantic disappointment, she had never again given herself entirely. She feared pain, loss, and separation. These things were inevitable on the path to love, and the only way of avoiding them was by deciding not to take that path at all. In order not to suffer, you had to renounce love. It was like putting out your own eyes not to see the bad things in life." Thoughts anyone?
No comments:
Post a Comment