A Collection of Relatable Thoughts | Everlyne Nyambura | Book Review & Discussion

A Collection of Relatable Thoughts by Everlyne Nyambura is a book that essentially contains musings highlighting about hitting lows before you soar high. It is a collection of poetry, letters, and random thoughts written with an intent to open conversation. Standing true to its title, the writeups are meticulously arranged to say that one has to touch the rock bottom before they gather their strength and go ahead holding their head high.

This book doesn’t contain any poem but the musings struck a chord with me. In fact, in a long time, I felt that somebody was speaking my heart. Everlyne expressed the raw thoughts that portray the realities of so many of us. Divided into five chapters — battleground, them vs you, relationship, learning curve, and soaring — this book compels us to reflect upon so many aspects of our lives. In easy writing, the author managed to articulate the crucial and profound lessons.

In ‘Prisoner,’ she expressed how we humans tend to cage ourselves. We never realize that our freedom would come after paying the price of facing our insecurities. Only if we could, we’d do so much better. ‘Too much effort’ puts forth the pain of those who find it difficult to maintain a conversation with their loved ones. We usually incline towards handicapping ourselves by throwing ourselves in the rut and never trying to come out of it. We crib over everything wrong around us when it is probably we, who assign a low value to our self-esteem.

Moving ahead, the author describes our tendency to switch the lanes to match others’ pace or get ahead of them. We do not reflect on where we actually want to go. We lack the clarity, we live with our fractured self, we live dual lives and then wonder, why living is so difficult. And eventually, we conclude that living alone is easier. I felt this.

And towards the end, Everlyne writes on healing we need. She asserts that the journey to healing is a long one and definitely not easy. Time plays a vital role and so does patience and kindness towards oneself. At a point, Everlyne expresses that social media was a platform for simple interactions. However, with time, it turned into a punishing chamber.

Would you agree?

This book is a good one if you want to read quotes that would perhaps resonate with you, especially in these trying times.