Are you living the life you want? If you could make different choices in your life, would you? If you could see how your choices turned out, would you want to experience your ‘alternate’ life to see if it was everything you thought it would be?

That’s the premise of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Here’s the summary as written on his website:

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?

What if after trying all your ‘alternate’ lives, it turns out that what you always wanted was right in front of you the entire time? The Midnight Library will make you consider and contemplate these choices.

Personally, what I’ve found is that the grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence. We may like to think so, and in our mind it may be, but in reality it typically isn’t. The lesson is to enjoy the life we have, to live in the present. Instead of wishing, longing, and wanting what could be or what could have been, we should be grateful and thankful for what is and what we do have.

Of course, life won’t be easy at times, but that’s part of living. It’s part of the journey through life. How we get through it day-by-day is all about the choice we make every morning when we wake up. We can choose to enjoy and look forward to the day ahead, or we can choose to dread and run away from it. I know the choice I want to make. What’s yours?

Anyway, I digress. I found The Midnight Library to be a fun read that will move you and spark some introspection, in a good way. It’s a great, charming story that should help you find a new appreciation for life – the one you have, not the one you wish you had.