Week 5, Post B

"I think about the woman I have become lately, about the life that I am now living, and about how much I always wanted to be this person and live this life, liberated from the farce of pretending to be anyone other than myself. I think of everything I endured before getting here and wonder if it was me--I mean this happy and balanced me, who is now dozing on the deck of a small Indonesian fishing boat--who pulled the other, younger, more confused and more struggling me forward during all those hard years" (330).

At the end of the memoir, Liz is reflecting on her journey to happiness and how she became the woman she is now. This new Liz is so much happier--more carefree, more passionate, more spiritually centered, and more self-confident. She realizes that although there were so many people who helped her along the way, (Giovanni, Luca Spaghetti, her guru, Richard from Texas, Ketut Liyer, Felipe, Wayan, and Tutti), the main administrator of her rescue was herself. She herself was the one who made the effort, took the time (a year!) to change and become happier. Without her own will to do so, she would never have reached the point she is at now, no matter how many people she had to help her along the journey. I think this is extremely true in everyday life--we cannot be forced to make changes. Only once we ourselves recognize that we need to change and make the decision to put forth the effort to do so can we finally be "rescued". Whether it be a rescue from a bad relationship, from alcohol or drugs, or from depression, nothing can be accomplished without one's own will to accomplish it.