The Must-Read Book Club
Allison Richard: This was originally mentioned to me by my mentor in my health coaching program at Duke Integrative Medicine. After that it popped up enough times that I finally read it when I was going through a transition in my life and needed support.
YCNYC: Favorite quote?
AR: The poem, which was written shortly after the author's father had passed away and became the basis for the book:
I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
YCNYC: What one person would you recommend this book to?
AR: Someone who understands that they don't want to settle for a life that's "good enough" and knows that whatever greatness they are destined for will be for the benefit of a multitude of others.
YCNYC: What moment or part resonates with you the most?
AR: The fact that the author took time away from her husband, family and loved ones to spend time in solitude to deal with and process her thoughts and pain from her father's death and then ended up with such a deep and beautiful book. The idea of telling everyone I love that I need that much time for me and trusting that they would be there when I returned is probably the scariest idea I could think of.
You can purchase I Will Not Die An Unlived Life here.
Have a Must-Read book to recommend? Email us here.
