Susan Cain was talking about her new book on a podcast I enjoy, and I purchased it immediately. I thought, "That is the word for what I always feel."
Her last book, Quiet, was a bestseller, and my daughter said it was a book that validated how she felt and gave her words to discuss the shared experience. I was hoping for the same.
Unfortunately, I once again had a hard time getting through the book. Her writing style is not my favorite; I often asked her to get to the point. But, she did validate my constant longing and gave me words for what I usually experience.
"The bittersweet is also about the recognition that light and dark, birth and death - bitter and sweet - are forever paired....To fully inhabit these dualities - the dark as well as the light - is, paradoxically, the only way to transcend them."
Bittersweet made me consider that the best way to experience life is to let all emotions arise and allow joy and sadness to exist as they appear. I fight tears at a wedding, any wedding, or sadness while watching a beautiful orange sunset with my love, knowing there will be a last sunset. No fighting. No correcting. Just witnessing and being with.
Here's to a life full of pleasure and pain, my friends.
You can find this book at my favorite online and in-person bookseller, Gilbert and Ivy.