Eat, Pray, Love… Repeat

(A Guest Blog By Kayla Blanchard)

Snuggled up in an oversized sweater (cheers to the weekend), I decided on a whim to watch Eat, Pray Love. I soon found myself fantasizing about the life that Julia Roberts embodies, hopping from Italy, India & Indonesia. I decided I wanted to be Julia Roberts. But then I recognized my fault. I realized that who I want to be is not really Julia Roberts but Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the memoir Eat, Pray, Love; chronicling her trip around the world in search for peace and solace after a problematic divorce.  I discover a truth: empowering women are often absent in women’s media today. More often than not a celebrity is more cherished than a woman who lives her life for the betterment of herself or others.  

So who is this Elizabeth Gilbert? I spent my afternoon reading, researching and falling in love.

Elizabeth Gilbert is a Connecticut native, a former NYU student and today a well-known author. But it wasn’t her degree that granted her success; it was heaping piles of rejection letters, year’s waitressing and finally a failed marriage. Elizabeth experienced the emotional anxiety and grief that many artists experience when trying to pursue their passion. Success and failure weighed heavily in her mind.

Overwhelmed by the realization that creativity and suffering are oftentimes linked; Elizabeth decided to put a safe distance between anxiety and creativity in order to manage and control her emotions. Her drive to write was invincible and so she stuck with her passion. Elizabeth ended up writing the international bestseller Eat, Pray, Love and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine.

However, with all the success and praise Elizabeth received she began to feel doomed. She was distraught with the idea that her greatest success was now behind her. Success and failure weighed heavily in her mind once again. But Elizabeth recognized the emotional risks her work was causing her still.  Elizabeth believed that her creativity must survive it’s own success and in doing so Elizabeth reminded herself of her passion. With dedication and devotion Elizabeth restored her passion for writing and published a follow-up to Eat, Pray, Love and an additional novel after that.

Although her recent books were not as successful as Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth found happiness in her work. Her dedication to writing even in the midst of self-doubt restored her hope for herself as an artist.

So what can Elizabeth Gilbert teach us? Passion is greater than failure. Although failure is inevitable it is possible to find happiness through dedicating all your energy into what you love. In the end, failure or success, you will still have your passion that makes all worthwhile.