Anna Quindlen, you are just too darn cool.
Thanks for these super cool stamps Jenn. Edited: Those great stamps are from Wordstworth.
I was looking through my quote files tonight and came across this commencement speech made by author Anna Quindlen that I had seen/read earlier this year. I think it also appears in her book: A Short Guide To A Happy Life. Seems like a good time of year to share it:
I am a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know.
Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work.
You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree; there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life.
Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.
People don't talk about soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to craft a resume than craft a spirit. But a resume is cold comfort on a winter night, or when your sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've gotten back the test results and they're not so good.
Here is my resume:
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say.
I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them there would be nothing to say to you today, because I would be a cardboard cutout. But I call them on the phone, and I meet them for lunch.
I would be rotten, or at best mediocre, at my job if these things were not true. You cannot really be first rate at your work, if your work is all you are.
So, here is what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so much for those things if you blew an aneurysm one day, or found a lump in your breast?
Get a life in which you notice the smell of the salt water pushing itself on a breeze over Seaside Heights, a life in which you stop and watch how a red tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone, send an email, write a letter.
Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about the goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beers and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a Big Brother or Sister.
It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get.
I learned to look at all the good in the world and to try to give some of it back, because I believe in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that in part, by telling others what I learned. By telling them this:
Consider the lilies of the field.
Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear.
Read in the backyard with the sun on your face.
Learn to be happy.
And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived.
Anna Quindlen, you are just too darn cool.
Thank you for posting this, Ali! I love it and I love Anna Quindlen! All of her words are so true. Why is it that we forget that as we go about living from day to day? Thanks for the reminder and for being cool, too! :)
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Ali (and Anna) thank you so much for posting this. I was driving to work this morning thinking about how I want my life to look in the next year...what a perfect excerpt to go a long with my thoughts of the morning. Thanks.
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Did I mention Ada has a fuzzy butt and I have the pictures to prove it? Great post, another book for my list.
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Ali, sempre, sempre, sempre (=always, always, always) YOU inspire via your sharings of inspirational readings, your artwork, your life veins. You succeed to reach others in a positive and motivational mode that make us reach out and stretch ourselves to think about values of importance, freedom to create, and how to live a better and simpler life.
You truly "Dee-light" me and as ever, I find you a remarkable young woman. It has been my pleasure to come to know you as a friend, albeit from afar.
Wishing you a blessed, happy, and simple New Year.
Ciao,
Dee
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yes, she is cool.
kip
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Thanks for sharing this. I was just writing in my weblog about so many of these very things. I want to make some changes this next year and this really spoke to me.
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Amazing. Thank you for sharing it. I think I may need to get this to keep it cloes and remember it.
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Ali- you are just too darn cool too! Thanks so much for sharing this at a time when a lot of us reexamine our lives every year. You always find the coolest quotes that give me so much inspiration.
Thanks and peace to you!
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Sweet.
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WOW, thanks for sharing :) and thanks for the inspiration.....
I will print it out and read it often.
Cindy :)
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what a great post.Thanks for sharing it - that is the coolest thing i ever read. "inspired to live life as if terminally ill" this concept gave me chills and a kick in the pants...
love it. love it.
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oh my dear...you have NO idea how much I needed to hear this.
thank you, thank you, thank you!
YOU are the best, love ya, girl!
R
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I needed this, Thanks for giving me this for New Years..
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Oh man Ali, did you sneak onto my private blog (the one I use as a journal just for things of my hear)? These are the answers to the questions I have been debating with myself. Thanks for sharing.
Kim
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YES!
Amen!
Right On!
Can I get a whoop-whoop?
Peace be with you!
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What an amazing passage, Ali - thank you for sharing both it and those {cool} stamps!!!
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very cool stamps - excellent words of wisdom to share! thank you!
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Wise, wise words! Thank you for sharing.
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Thanks Ali for this quote. Just what I needed to hear today. Since I started reading your blog, I've learned so many life lessons that I probably would have gotten around to in due time, but thanks for the push in the right direction. There's no such thing as coincidence, right?!? We are where we need to be when it's most needed. Thanks again Ali.
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Thank you so very much for sharing those words, Ali! I'm feeling a little sorry for myself today ~~ in laws are coming tomorrow and we got invited to a family dinner tonight and my pup is not allowed to come and visit too, not even to stay in their garage! I really needed some encouragement and the words of Anna Quindlen really struck me a just sheer beauty!
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Your bits and pieces of inspiration that you share never cease to move me or amaze me. Thank you for sharing the lovely Anna Quindlen with us.
It's a message I need to repeat to myself. Daily.
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Thanks Ali, I needed that today. Have a Happy New Year!
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thanks for sharing, ali
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I sent this profound story to friends via email for my "awesome thoughts for the New Year" message. Each year I search for something meaningful to pass on to important folks in my life, and the moment I read this knew it was the one (giving full credit to Anna and her book, which I plan to gift to myself soon - thank you Anna). Thanks Ali.
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Wow. That is so powerful, and beautiful. Thank you so much for posting that. I want to say more, but I feel like I need time for it to sink in.
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