Last year the book "Eat, Pray, Love" (sorry, know that's not correct but there is no underline link available on Google blog and I forget the html code...forgive me) by Elizabeth Gilbert was recommended to me by a dear friend. So, I read it. Though parts of the book were admittedly interesting and insightful and Gilbert, in my opinion, has a very fresh and lively writing style, substantially I thought the book was a little fluffy for my taste. That opinion was only exacerbated by the arrival of the film version of "Eat, Pray"...as well as the subsequent commercialization of anything and everything mentioned in the book ("Eat, Pray, Love" candles, incense, travel tours, bedsheets, tantra sets...Lord only knows what else).
Be that as it may, I decided to trust Gilbert a second time, having heard decent reviews on the follow-up book, "Committed", where Gilbert is 'forced' by the Department of Homeland Security to marry the Latin lover she met in the first book. In "Committed", Gilbert explores the institution of marriage as it has evolved within the western cultural context. I haven't finished reading the book but so far am finding it relatively interesting in terms of factual knowledge. It is less fluffy than "Eat, Pray..." for sure. Still love that lively writing style, but the only negative comment I have thus far is that the book reads more like, well, a blog than an actual book. The book is organized into chapters, but that doesn't mean that there is any actual organization to them.
ANYWAY, one particular part of the book that I found very amusing was when Gilbert candidly tells her Brazilian sweetheart, Felipe, all of her flaws in an attempt to warn him about what he will be dealing with if he marries her. This got me thinking about my own life, and of course my own flaws. I started thinking about what I would tell someone if I were in that same position. Here are just a FEW of the things that I came up with:
1) I have always been a little impatient, which breeds rash decisions/actions. When I'm angry, I have a propensity to cut people out of my life if they make me really upset, and block them for all eternity-especially if they hurt me. I have also booked airline tickets to get the best price, and made mistakes while booking the ticket (I've done this multiple times and had to pay extra to cancel/change the ticket almost every time). Rash actions.
2) I can be very judgmental of others, especially when I first meet them. Luckily, I can change my opinion of people after I first meet them, but I rely a lot on first impressions. I am especially judgmental of anything remotely relating to aesthetics; however I have no credentials with which to back my opinion (case in point, my enthralling book review in this post).
3) I can be a terrible know-it-all, to the point where I'm listening to myself talk and I want to stop myself, but I keep on going. More often than not, this is actually an honest attempt to inform people (but I can't always recognize when people don't want to be informed). This also goes hand-in-hand with being an above average bullshitter. Oh, and interrupting others.
Well...I do have more to add to the list, but a) not sure if I want to share them all yet, and b) I decided that if I can admit at least some of these faults (as Gilbert did), then maybe I can actually start to do some work on changing these behaviors for the better. I figured maybe it's on a tiny scale like having an addiction: admit you have a problem, share it with the community, and then garner support. So, there ya go! ;)
<3, Me
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