Eat, Pray, Shut The F*** Up

This is the title of my friend's blog who has decided to go on a four month voyage into South East Asia. It cracked me up reading the title as there has been such mix reviews of Elizabeth Gilbert's bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love. It was published in 2006, and yet it is still finds its way into the current motif of travel and "finding one's way in life"--not always in good favour, and sometimes the opposite--like in the case of my witty friend's blog, who's applied it as a satirical reference to Gilbert's fantastical story, which, let's face it, won't happen to everybody who decides to let loose and seek out pleasure, the Divine, and their future husband number two (who happens to be a sexy Brazilian). There might as well be nymphs and fairies in her story, and I'll still believe it all happened to Ms. Gilbert.

There is a fundamental core to her story though, which I think reaches out and grabs the reader in a surprising way. For me, it was instant jealousy that slapped me across the face. Who wouldn't be? She gets to go on a year long sabbatical across three exotic countries, fully funded by her publisher as a free-lance writer! But after the initial phase of green-eyed envy, it did make me think about what freedom really means and how malleable the whole notion is to us.

I go back and forth between the idea that "everywhere we are in chains" (thank you Monsieur Rousseau), and the idea that we are fundamentally in charge of our own destinies, thus having some leverage over Rousseau's metaphorical chains. I suppose my sentiments lie somewhere in the middle, because I do feel the pull of both ends of the spectrum in very tangible and real ways. For instance, it would take a lot of work for me to be able to go spend a year abroad without a job, a home, or money, to feed me all the gourmet pasta and risottos I want. On the other hand, I am privileged enough to have some power over the decisions I make in my life that will inevitably affect my entire future. I'm not rich, nor am I poor (monetarily), but I do have the freedom to choose. I am my own decision-maker; and this is the most powerful tool a person can have at their disposal.