10 Lessons from The Midnight Library

The Midnight Library

“If you had done just one thing differently, you would have a different life story.” Let that sink in. How might your life be different if you took a different route home today? What if you slept in an hour later? What if you had gone to a different college, married a different person, had a different number of kids (more or less), said yes to something you said no to?

The Midnight Library holds all of the books of Nora’s possible life outcomes. After Nora attempts suicide, she finds herself faced with endless options as she visits this in between scenario. She can “try on” as many different lives as she wishes. She can return to her old (root) life. Or, she can choose to die once and for all.

I normally only highlight in nonfiction books. This is only the second fiction book I have read for sheer entertainment that I have marked up, the other being The Shack. My mind was blown at every turn and I ended the book with a deeper appreciation for the possibilities all of our lives have to offer.

Here are the lessons that stuck out to me:

  1. Being careful what you wish for is profoundly true. A good outcome in one facet of your life might lead to a bad outcome in another.
  2. Regret is a massive waste of time. We have no way of knowing our alternate future if we had just done something differently. The mistake you made today could be lifesaving to someone else later.
  3. Feeling stuck is mostly just that, a feeling. We ALWAYS have choices in front of us. We just might need courage, or gumption, extra finances, or help, but there are choices.
  4. Do not underestimate the worth of your life. You have no idea how your mere presence can be life giving to others around you.
  5. Some things we can change, but some we truly can’t. Some endings are written in the stars, or guided by God’s will, however you would like to look at it.
  6. We often long for more time, but how much would time truly solve?
  7. “Never underestimate the big importance of small things,” according to the librarian, Mrs. Elm.
  8. There is 100% no life available to you where you will live in a continual state of happiness, so stop thinking that there is.
  9. Many of us lack imagination. Use your imagination to increase your possibilities in life.
  10. Sometimes prison isn’t a place, it’s a perspective.

Please, please read this book. You’ll be so glad you did.

Published by alanham73


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