An Evening with Liz Gilbert

Originally posted on Instagram.

One of the perks of living just outside of Washington DC is the access we have to some pretty cool opportunities. One of those happened last Thursday when I got to see @elizabeth_gilbert_writer in person downtown at the Lincoln Theater at a book talk hosted by @politicsprose.

I’ve been reading Liz Gilbert since the Eat, Pray, Love years and I knew if I did not take advantage of seeing her live, I would regret it. Yet I’ve also found planning and getting downtown in the evening daunting due to the crazy amount of traffic we have during rush hour. Much easier to just stay home, right? And yet there was that not wanting to regret thing. So I went.

Spoiler alert: it stressed me out way more than I would have liked. Which I’m slowly starting to realize is OK...that maybe it’s not about finding a way to prevent the messiness of life but rather getting better at accepting and working with the messiness that naturally shows up. Maybe?

Liz was wonderful. What I find fascinating is less what she has to share (though that is so good) and more about how she shares it...how she owns her own truth and holds space for others. She talked about “learning in public” — how if she learns something about life that she thinks might help someone, she can’t not share it. That it weighs on her. Yet she does so realizing that there is no way to control how it is received. Talk about vulnerability. She is big on boundaries, too.

Definitely lots to learn there. So much food for thought.