MARCH 28, 2020

   I recently finished reading the book “The fault in our stars” by John Green and this blog is a collection of all that I learned from the book. This is the book for which I have no words… Words like staggering, awesome, astonishing, astounding, deep, interesting, intriguing, fascinating, compelling and magnificent are also less for describing this book…

   This book is about two cancer survivors, Augustus Waters and Hazel Grace Lancaster. It begins with them first becoming friends and then falling in love with each other. The wisdom that John Green implicitly gives us through their conversations or through their doings is what will help us to go through difficult situations in our lives. Although the book ends very tragically (I won’t tell you what happens…), anybody who loves fictional stories will deeply dive into this book and love it. Also, stories that end tragically aren’t bad. There is a lot to learn from them as there is from stories that end happily and positively. The way John Green writes is very gripping, compelling and astounding… Another thing that I personally like about his writing is that he explains deep things very lucidly in this book. The deep thoughts that he leaves us with after reading this book are also so well connected with the story that one doesn’t feel that he has just told us something as readers… All of the learnings are deeply implied in the story…

   So, there are many things I learned from the book and here I write them one by one: –

1. It is okay to let our emotions out. Yes, it is OKAY to let your emotions flow and it is OKAY to share how you feel. It is OKAY to tell the other person the truth and let them and you absorb it and understand it. It is OKAY to cry when you feel that way. Crying actually helps you to understand and analyse your situation and find the solution. It is OKAY to feel low. If you don’t accept that you are feeling low, then how can you get back to the state of happiness? When you read the book, you will understand this when both Hazel and Augustus go through ups and downs.
2. Enjoy your life, TODAY! YOU NEED TO ENJOY AND SAVOUR EVERY MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE! You never know what tomorrow has in store for you. You don’t know how many seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years or decades you have in your life. So, enjoy and live the present. By enjoying I don’t mean becoming irresponsible or careless about the future and just ENJOYING the present by doing what you like. Whatever you are doing, your work, studies, exercise, reading or household chores, be present in that and plan responsibly for the future. You should know what goals you want to achieve in the future and you should enjoy your present by knowing that you are taking the right actions towards your goals and doing them with full awareness. Another thing that is meant enjoying your present is not worrying unnecessarily and being anxious about the future. The reality is that you don’t know what the universe has in store for you in the future. You can absolutely manifest what you want in your future by taking the responsible actions that will lead to that outcome. But unnecessary worry and anxiety about the future will only bring anxiety in the future. You will understand this in the book when Augustus is trying to get closer to Hazel but Hazel tries not to let him come close and fall in love with her because she is worrying about what Augustus might feel when she dies. She worries this way because she knows that she is going to die one day or the other. Augustus teaches Hazel to enjoy the present (I won’t tell you how…For that go read the book!)
3. It is not important to leave a mark on earth before leaving it. I know this might be felt with a negative connotation because we usually believe that we should leave a mark of our great sense of kindness and we will be successful when people will take this as an example to keep the fire of kindness ablaze in this world. But what I have inferred from this book regarding this learning is that why do we need other people to approve of our success when true success is what we define it for ourselves. It is not bad to be recognised by other people. But the approval of a million people is also not of any use if you don’t approve of your success yourself. Don’t run behind getting the approval of being successful from the world because it will not be of any use if you don’t approve your success on the parameters you have for defining yourself as a successful person. If you run behind this, you will not be able to do either of the two, being happy and regret free on your deathbed and setting an example for people before leaving the planet. So, don’t seek approval of other people for being successful and don’t run behind setting an example for the world and leaving a mark on earth. In order to live a truly fulfilled life you need to define success for yourself and you need to be happy with what you have done in your life. Don’t worry if people will recognise you or not after your death.  What is important is that you should be happy with the life you lived and the choices you made in your life. You should be feeling the sense of fulfilment on your deathbed even if nobody recognises you… You should take your last inhalation in the form of love from your body and you should exhale for the last time exhaling gratitude, fulfilment and happiness towards life, your body and the universe for letting you live purposefully and giving you the chance to make the choices that filled your soul and body with contentment and happiness…

This is what I learned from “The fault in our Stars”.  This is a great book and you should definitely read it. You will learn a lot and you will be able to understand what I have written even more comprehensibly…

    Write your reflections in the comments box and share this with as many people as possible so that I can help them add some positivity and help them inculcate and learn some new things about life…