The Novel Helping Me Stay Grounded Right Now

Lots can happen in our minds when we step out of how we’ve always done things and dare to try something new. One of those things happening in my mind during this second week of living on the road again is looking for ways to stay grounded.

It takes work.

Every time we move, I have to find a new space for morning yoga, a new chair for coffee and journaling, a new path for midday walks, a new flow for family meals, school stuff with the teenager, working, reading, writing, resting ~ everything is different. And while there’s certainly a thrill for me in all things new (sometimes to a fault), I’m finding it takes an extra dose of daily commitment and intention to stay grounded when everything is constantly shifting.

Staying grounded is important.

Some people talk about staying grounded as not letting external forces divert us from our goals, maintaining emotional and mental balance, or being deeply in touch with ourselves. Others say it’s being more aware of our surroundings, knowing the difference between what’s real and what’s not real, having the ability to stay calm and connect to the core of who we are in the face of uncertainty.

I want all of that.

Since you’re here, I’m guessing you do too. When it comes to going after big dreams, it might not always be easy to point to what exactly is making us nervous. Could it be that we might feel unsettled about losing the grounded feeling we’ve worked so hard to achieve? Could part of us fear that stepping out into big dream territory might untether us from ourselves more than we’re comfortable untethering?

Maybe.

I’m there right now too. So I thought it might be helpful to share something that’s unexpectedly making it easier for me to stay grounded when so much untethering is happening —  a novel called How to Read a Book by Monica Wood⤵

I picked up How to Read a Book by Monica Wood right before moving as an impulse buy during a last-minute visit to my favorite little bookshop in Northeast Harbor.

I didn’t need a new book.

I had boxed up so many books and sent them to storage and my small travel book storage box was already bursting at the seams, but I couldn’t resist. Here’s why — How to Read a Book is set in Portland, Maine, the author Monica Wood lives in Portland, and she’s also a member of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance I belong to. No question about it, I was sold.

I expected to at least like the book for all the Portland feels (it’s one of my very favorite places), and I did. But what I didn’t expect was how long the story would stay with me after I read the last page and how grounded it would make me feel in my own life story.

It’s brilliant.

It’s a story about a young woman making a life-altering mistake and finding her way to building a life after prison. It’s a story about a newly retired man losing his wife, his life’s purpose, and his confidence, and finding his way to a new life after so much loss. And it’s also a story about a newly retired widow changing the whole world for a group of women through her book club.

For me, How to Read a Book awakened a deep gratitude for the life season I’m currently in — one where I have plenty of freedom to do as I please, plenty of work to do, plenty of people who depend on me, and plenty of love from the people I love most. If I’m lucky enough to step into my 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond, my life won’t always be like that — there will be a slowing down in the work department, a world moving faster than I care to keep up with, and unfortunately, there will certainly be loss and most likely a shifting from being needed to being the one who needs. This is natural. I’m not afraid of it. I just don’t want to overlook the beauty in this season while I’m still in it. This book is making it a lot easier to find that beauty.

How to Read a Book also reminded me how powerful a thoughtful, intentional, well-curated book club can be — how even the most unlikely books and unexpected souls can bring about change in our lives when we let them. It made me so thankful to have transformed this Friday morning email group into an email book club group a couple of years back, so thankful you’re here every Friday, so thankful for all of it. And it also made me crave an in-person book club group too (something I’ll be doing a little bit of at the October retreat ~ woo hoo! Join me if you can!).

It’s going on my re-read pile.

The description on Bookshop.org calls it “a profoundly hopeful story about letting go of guilt, seizing second chances, and the power of books to change our lives” and says “Monica Wood illuminates the decisions that define a life and the kindnesses that make life worth living”. I wholeheartedly agree.

If you check it out, let me know what you think.

Today, I’m off to find a little bit of Portland, Maine magic myself, taking a little road trip to the big city to visit a very special someone and popping into a new-to-me Portland bookshop mentioned by Monica Wood in the acknowledgments section of How to Read a Book that I’ve never seen before (eek!!). I hope your weekend is filled with more than a little bit of magic too.