I sort of joke in the book that I'm a recovering pessimist, which is to say that before my divorce, I used pessimism almost as self-protection, which is to say, 'Oh, I won't get the job. And, you know, remembering that was really important, and remains really important to me. And we have to think about, not the life that we had last year, but thinking about what the life we have now still offers us, and what is still possible in the future.Īs many things can go right as can go wrong. And I think we are all feeling a lot of that now because of the pandemic, because of so much unrest in this country and in the world. If I imagined a Venn diagram of emotions, I think my feelings was sort of that spot where fear and sadness and anger and confusion overlap. You know, it felt like a catastrophic change. I think in some ways this really summarizes what what I was trying to do with the book, which is to think about reimagining my life at a time where I thought it was over. On trusting that the present moment has something to teach you And if that's not a kind and gentle, sort of brave-making conversation, then what other people are telling us sort of slips off of us. And I think one of the things I realized when writing this book is the most important conversation that you have each day is the one you have with yourself.

Other people can tell you, in hard times, 'You're going to be fine.' But if you're not telling yourself that, sometimes it's hard to believe. On writing the book she needed to read herself I found my way into a new kind of optimism that I hadn't experienced before, and I found that the posts were really meeting people where they were in their lives at that time, too.' And a couple of surprising things happened because of those tweets. And I posted them on Twitter as a way to hold myself accountable and to sort of share my struggle with others. ' Keep Moving began as sort of 'notes to self' that I wrote for myself each day to pep-talk myself through this really dark time. Smith says she started writing the book as her marriage was ending. It is a meditation on kindness and hope, and how to move forward through grief. Reading Maggie Smith's new book Keep Moving feels kind of like that. Or maybe you get to the front of the coffee line to find the guy in front of you already paid for your drink.Īnd in the midst of your total misery, this total stranger has done you a good turn.

Maybe they wave you on instead of honking when you cut them off in traffic. Have you ever had this experience? You were having the most awful, terrible day and a stranger does something kind, and it nearly brings you to tears.

Keep Moving by Maggie Smith