‘THERE COMES A POINT’

“Most of us can’t help but live as though we’ve got two lives to live, one is the mockup, the other the finished version, and then there are all those versions in between. But there’s only one, and before you know it, your heart is worn out, and, as for your body, there comes a point when no one looks at it, much less wants to come near it.”

This quote is arguably the most memorable in the book ‘Call Me By Your Name’ by André Aciman.

It reminds me that we take so much for granted in our youth. Our body, our movement, the newness of it all. Has anyone else said the words ‘if I knew then what I know now’? Well isn’t that the whole point?

“We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to feel nothing so as not to feel anything—what a waste!”

The focus shifts, the perspective we gain with passing time IS the lesson, it IS the journey. For me it is anyway. What is the point of life? Well I would like to reframe it as follows: What is the point of life if we don’t feel a single thing?

We aren’t made of stone, so let’s feel the good and the bad, in all their glorious forms.

Never. Stop. Learning.

With gratitude,
Nathan

NOTES:

The book is available from The Guardian Bookshop, and the film is a highly recommended adaptation if you haven’t already seen it.

Picture taken by me at The Royal Academy, inside this years Summer Exhibition – on for just six more days. If you haven’t seen it – you must!