One of the many reasons I read is to find myself.
It sounds counterintuitive, to read about other people in other places doing other things, to learn about me. But it’s one of the things I find most powerful about writing. I can be reading a blog post by a mother of small children, or a fiction book set in 1743, or a memoir-esque book by a guy and say, “Me too.”
It’s one of the reasons I write here: I believe in the power of the “Me too” moments. 
Recently, I received an advance copy of the latest book by Paul Angone, whose book 101 Secrets for Your Twenties I also reviewed. As I read All Groan Up: Searching for Self, Faith, and a Freaking Job, I felt like I was being given permission to feel all of the things I feel about being in my twenties. While the level of uncertainty in my life is not nearly what it was soon after I graduated from college, I still wrestle with feeling like I don’t have everything figured out, with wanting to figure out what I’m really doing with my life, and with trying to make peace with where I am instead of continually longing for where I’m not.
Paul’s specific experiences of being a twentysomething vary from mine, but even those I can learn from. All Groan Up is a refreshing reminder that being a twentysomething doesn’t have to be quite so lonely or quite so scary.
All of this fits in so well with the thread behind this blog: The Art of Becoming. As Paul writes in All Groan Up:
Yet becoming an adult is not a onetime thing. You grow into growing up, each season bringing with it things you’re going to have to secretly Google to figure out how to do.
I know we have this yearning to “arrive.” To make it. We want to unpack our bags. Paint the house the color we want. Tear down a few needless walls and build a huge custom desk that will never leave the room.
However, every time we think we’ve made it, we look out the window to see a U-Haul truck waiting to take us to the next town.
But maybe not making it is a gift. If you’ve arrived, why bother still exploring?
There are things I still don’t love about the idea of never truly arriving, but I think there’s truth in it. And when I let myself, I can see there’s goodness there as well. All Groan Up was a great reminder of that, and a great reminder of why I keep reading–and keep writing.
Til next time…
~Brianna!~
p.s. What have you read that’s made you say, “Me too?”
The Art of Becoming 
I enjoyed this. It seems like I spent my twenties constantly longing to be established, independent and have it all together (whatever that means). It seems like I was always waiting and lagging behind my peers. Now I can look back and see how the waiting was preparing me for the gifts I longed for. And even now having those gifts there is still unfulfillment and the waiting continues. So maybe that is what Paul is refereing to. I realize now that I simply cant be satisfied by the temporary. I can also see that even though the seasons in my life have unfolded YEARS behind my schedule, there was plenty of time for everything. Tx for sharing!
Ugh, I am terrible at waiting–but my twenties seem to have a fair amount of it so far. I love that you can look back and see the value in it though, and hopefully I’ll be able to do the same. Thanks for reading!
I look forward to reading the book. I read his (Paul’s) prayer for every twenty something and that was encouraging and through out the prayer I kept thinking, “I needed that!”
It’s a good read! I definitely recommend checking it out.