#BookClub – Wild

“That my complicated life could be made so simple was astounding.”
― Cheryl Strayed
I recently finished the book Wild and at the time I didn’t say to myself that this will be the book that I am going to read for this month’s #BookClub. I had decided to read the book because I noticed the movie was coming out and if a movie is based on a book, I enjoy reading the book before I watch the movie. I am actually one of the few people out there who doesn’t actually sit and compare a book to the movie and nitpick the details, I simply enjoy a good book and a good movie (but that is another blog for another time).
Had I known when I was reading the book that I was going to use it for #BookClub I might have thought about it differently or perhaps even taken notes (because that is just what I do). But after a conversation I had with Alison yesterday I thought that this book would be a great fit!
My three main take-aways from the book are:

• Life is hard. You can either deal with it or let it deal with you.
• Life does go on. When dealing with major life events (death, loss of job, etc.) and you think you can’t go on in the same direction any longer- change the direction. It is your choice.
• Stuff is just stuff. We fill our life with lots of “stuff” and by stuff I mean all of the additional items that we don’t need to live.

There are many questions that I could ask based on this book. But if we step back and think about everything we use on a daily basis as public relations practitioners, there would definitely be a list of essentials and nonessentials.
What I really want to know is if you had to survive for one week and all you had was one briefcase (or a really cute Kate Spade laptop bag) to fill with your essential items, what as public relations professionals could you not live without for a week?