Soul food.
That's how I would describe Garth Stein's
The Art of Racing in the Rain.
You know that feeling you get after eating warm gourmet mac and cheese or a delicious plate of tachos post-margarita buzz? That feeling. Is. Nice. In the moment: altogether schmaltzy, satisfying, and complete.
This dog book was everything I was looking for when I thought to myself:
I need something that doesn't make me hate myself.
That is a weird thought for someone to have (or completely normal but we all just don't want to admit it) but understand where I'm coming from. I recently turned 25 and experienced another episode of an otherwise dormant quarter life crisis (QLC)--a problem in which feelings of insecurity and inadequacy and social comparison all intensify.
To this end, I'd considered putting in time for books like
The Defining Decade or
20-Something 20-Everything. quotable self-help books a few of my friends have referenced. But self-help books are even more cheesy than fiction.... and they never seem to tell me something I feel like I don't already know. I like my schmaltz woven into a story. One that makes me bawl, preferably.
Garth's book gives a nod to books like
Tuesdays with Morrie or
The Alchemist. It's the kind of book that makes me stop and appreciate the struggles I've gone through and the people I've met along the way. And. It encourages me to keep going.
“The sun rises every day. What is to love? Lock the sun in a box. Force the sun to overcome adversity in order to rise. Then we will cheer! I will often admire beautiful sunrise, but I will never consider the sun a champion for having risen.”
Yes, I cried. I cried not because Enzo the dog died (not a spoiler) but because the dog's point of view is honest and raw and... as one would expect, loyal (man's best friend, after all). It makes the plot wonderfully "human."
The plot is driven by a simple story, not quite original but not so unoriginal as to be cliche. It is about his master's struggles and his personal battle. And his struggles made me so sad but life's difficulties just help you shine brighter. The fact that Denny, Enzo's human, was a racecar driver provided powerful life analogies.
In racecar driving, you must shed your ego to be truly successful. You have to see yourself as part of the universe, part of the track. In racecar driving, "
La macchina va dove vanno gli occhi." "The car goes where the eyes go."
"That which you manifest is before you." - One of the main lessons Enzo learns from his master is this mantra. The power of visualization is truly underestimated. When I was in elementary school, we had a daily message we'd say after the pledge, which ended with the phrase "self-fulfilling prophecy." It was positive. We would graduate from high school in 2008 and graduate from college in 2012. But I learned sooner or later that self-fulfilling prophecies applied to negative things as well.
Strangely, this mantra is also about being fully engaged with your present, and not letting the fear of crashing control your vision. You must see the wall, the turn, the rain as part of the racetrack, as part of the collective of elements you must brave. Every composition of fiber and chemicals exists and that existence is hardly alterable. There is no point in dwelling too long on a single object that is not on the road which you must travel.
Not coincidentally, the book resonated with the mantra I've had for the past week: Free Yourself.
Free yourself from hate, envy,
self-judgement,
the burn of negativity,
the confines of fear.
Fight for the choice to
free yourself.
Give yourself the freedom of love, joy,
self-compassion,
to notice the little moments
and savor the breathtaking ones.
My choice is bound to
these freedoms.
Currently Listening: Waterfalls (Bag Raiders)
Currently Reading: The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein, 2008)
