Go, because you want to.
I remember playing a game with my cousins. It consisted of spotting cars of a specific colour and screaming "red", "blue", "black". Tiny Beautiful Things is a book that makes you scream "human", "human", "human" every time you flip the page.
This book is the compilation of an online advice column addressed to "Sugar", Cheryl Strayed herself, who gathered her own life stories to help others figure out their path.
Grief, sorrow, and vulnerability come hand-to-hand with love, forgiveness, and empathy.
I've heard the audiobook two times. The first time, I had just finished High-School. I was anxious, worried, and uncertain about going to Uni and the whole idea of moving out scared me. I can clearly picture myself cleaning my terrace for Summer with tears falling while listening to the beautiful but hard advice addressed to the columnist.
The second time, I had just finished Uni. The end of another cycle in my life. This time anxiety wasn't floating. But tears still came down. I feel empathy for those who had the courage to ask for advice. "It could be me", I think. "Human", "human", "human".
Do you know those Youtube videos "try not to laugh"? I would do a "try not to cry" with this book. No need to say I failed, miserably.
Tiny Beautiful Things occupies a special place in my heart because it represents how I have come to grow as a person during the past few years. When I first read it, there were many things I didn't understand. Now, I can make sense of a few more than I did back then. I'm glad you asked:
(1) Accept that people screw up, even when it is not their intention.
(2) You already know the answer.
(3) Say it.
(4) Kindness trumps everything.
(5) You don't have a job. You have a life.
(6) The structured path might not make you proud.
(7) Don't take things so seriously.
(8) Feeling does not make you weak.
(9) Vulnerability solidifies what should gain structure.
(10) You will never regret doing the right thing.
In the midst of replying to a letter, Cheryl said something that has stayed with me until now. I used it as a quote in one of my IG posts back in 2017, and I still think of these words today.
“Go because you want to. Because wanting to leave is enough.”
I am leaving the city where I studied for 3 years. Not because I didn't like it. Not because I won't miss it. But because I felt like leaving. And this feeling was enough during multiple periods of my life, where I had to leave. Not geographically, but emotionally. Wanting to leave is enough. It's what I keep telling myself.