#thelitbit// When Breath Becomes Air

When Breath Becomes Air  by Paul Kalanithi

A difficult read yet difficult to put down. I had expected something like The Last Lecture or Tuesdays with Morrie but this was so much more raw. This brought insight into the life of a doctor, and the life of a patient, bringing back memories of what it was like being a family of patients loved and lost. Yet, this raw memoir also holds its own beauty, to the fragility and sacredness of life, wherever you may be, wherever you have gone, wherever you plan to go. We are alive, and sometimes, that’s more than enough.

Lucy, Paul’s wife, captures this chapter in their life perfectly:

“Although these last few years have been wrenching and difficult - sometimes almost impossible - they have also been the most beautiful and profound of my life, requiring the daily act of holding life and death, joy and pain in balance and exploring new depths of gratitude and love.”

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Key Takeaways

1. We may never be perfect but may we always live to be our best. 

"You can’t ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving."

2. Get to the heart of the matter.

"At those critical junctures, the question is not simply whether to live or die but what kind of life is worth living...What makes life meaningful enough to go on living?"

3. Take the time to reflect on your life. Presence & digestion. Lessons learned. In the words of Hemingway:

"...acquiring rich experiences, then retreating to cogitate and write about them"

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