How much thought do you give your life choices?
For me, it’s on the daily. Sometimes, it’s “Why did I think a dog was a good idea when I don’t have a yard and now I have to take him out to do his thing even when it’s zero degrees out?”
Other days, the mind games can have a smaller ROI. Maybe it’s pondering how much time I play solitaire on my phone. Or the color choice I made with my running shoes.
But rarely does a day go by that I don’t go deep with at least a single topic: the anxious mind is an active mind, after all. If contemplation were cardio, I’d be in permanent beast mode.
And with that in mind, Matt Haig’s “The Life Impossible” offers up a buffet in food for thought.
Haig’s protagonist is Grace Winters — an older, retired widow from the UK who is relating her current situation as an ex-pat living in Ibiza to a former student who has sent her an email seeking advice.
Winters has regrets that stem primarily from the death of her son in his early childhood and life choices she made after he died that colored her perception of the strength of her marriage. When a former colleague gifts her a home in Ibiza, she takes an uncharacteristic leap and hops a plane to the Mediterranean.
Once there, she finds herself mired in an extraterrestrial mystery that if it’s not solved, could lead to the destruction of the planet over time. (It’s worth noting I finally got around to watching “Interstellar” this past weekend, so the death of the planet is on the brain. See above re: deep thoughts.)
It’s also over the course of this storytelling that Grace is forced to confront her life choices and the consequential feelings attached to them. The big question being, how long do you beat yourself up for something you may or may not have had much control over in the first place?
Everyone has a favorite writer or a bunch of them, so for this reason I never tell anyone to shy away from a book. Just because it’s not my cup of tea doesn’t mean someone else wouldn’t enjoy it. Personally, I thought it was a little extra for me and the story mechanics a little over the top. Do I believe in aliens? Yes. Do I believe there is an alien force in the ocean that can touch me and thereby grant supernatural powers? No. (Duh, obviously, I get it that it’s fiction. It’s just still, a bit much.) BUT — I appreciate that Haig had me thinking about the life forces, both physically in front of us and as part of the metaphysical, that surround us, and it’s honestly a wee bit arrogant for me to assume anything, given we know so little about what’s really out there.
And I did respect the messaging around letting go and moving forward. A lot of people spend a lot of time stuck in their grief for the past or catastrophizing about the future. It’s a lot of time and emotional energy spent on things that ultimately we have no ability to impact. Especially the past.
It’s also worth noting that I now want to go to Ibiza. Their tourism department has Mr. Haig to thank for that.
Cheers to the first book of 2025 under my belt, and happy reading to you this year! If you need another recommendation, you can catch the entirety of my blog here.
LitzyDitz 