The Time of My Life

Another wonderful, insightful, thought-provoking, inspiring and magical book by my favourite author, Cecelia Ahern! I really love her books. Her books never fail to let me enjoy the simple yet wonderful joy of reading. I finished reading this book last Monday, but I wasn't free to write about it. I wanted to share some of my thoughts and feelings after reading it.

Here is the synopsis:

Lucy Silchester has an appointment with her life – and she’s going to have to keep it.

Lying on Lucy Silchester’s carpet one day when she returns from work is a gold envelope. Inside is an invitation – to a meeting with Life. Her life. It turns out she's been ignoring it and it needs to meet with her face to face.

It sounds peculiar, but Lucy’s read about this in a magazine. Anyway, she can’t make the date: she’s much too busy despising her job, skipping out on her friends and avoiding her family.

But Lucy’s life isn’t what it seems. Some of the choices she’s made – and stories she’s told – aren’t what they seem either. From the moment she meets the man who introduces himself as her life, her stubborn half-truths are going to be revealed in all their glory – unless Lucy learns to tell the truth about what really matters to her.

(Taken from Cecelia Ahern's webpage.)

"Are you taking your life for granted?"

Well, honestly I would say that most of the time, I took my life for granted. Comforting and lying to myself that "it's only for this time" never solve the problem. This gets worse especially when I get busy. Too busy for myself! Too busy until I could hardly breath! This gruelling schedule is suffocating! Do they sound familiar? Sometimes we really need to stop being so busy, pause, and pay attention to all the good things/people we missed out along the way. Our life isn't just about ourselves. Our lives include our beloved ones, friends, and family too. Often I took them for granted, especially my family, when I got so tied up with the activities I was involved in, or in other people. Well, this book is certainly a wake-up call for me to stop taking my life for granted. Stop neglecting life.

Find someone who is interested in your life. 

Be with someone who is not only just interested in you, your ability, your physical characteristics, your personalities. If a person really loves you, he or she will be interested in your life. Afterall, our life is what makes us, our life is what we constantly fall back on, our life is what defines us. How can someone not be interested in your life yet claims to be interested in you. So if you love someone, know more about the person, know his or her life, accept his or her life, love his or her life, and be part of his or her life.

Final words from the book:

As long as you're around, your life is too. So just as you shower love and affection and attention on the husbands, wives, parents, children and forever friends who surround you, you have to do so equally with your life, because it's yours, it's you, and it's always there rooting for you, cheering you on, even when you feel like you can't do it.

I gave up on my life for a while, but what I've learned is that even when that happens and especially when that happens, life never gives up on you. Mine didn't. And we'll be there for each other until those final moments when we will look at each other and say, "Thanks for staying until the end."

Very beautiful and heart-warming! I give it 10 out of 10!