You are the captain of your ship

I just finished the book, The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical book by Sylvia Plath. Sylvia Plath was a renowned poet and received many awards and acclaim for her work in the 1940's and 1950's. I hated the book. To me, it was a compilation of haphazard self-absorbing thoughts randomly presented. Also, the tone of the book was very cynical,  and Sylvia was very critical of everyone in her life. It is no wonder that she was committed to a mental hospital in her later years in college! On February 11th, 1963, she committed suicide, leaving two small children and an estranged husband. This is a very abbreviated story of Sylvia Plath.

It took me a little while to realize that the title, The Bell Jar, was ingeniously created to show how a person, who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, views her life experiences through the distorted lens of a bell jar. Images and perceptions are grotesquely shaped! 

Sylvia and the rest of us in the human population experience ups and downs: some are severe and others are lofty. It is the extreme highs and lows that impact us the most. Sylvia was one of the most renowned poet/writer at her peak. Yet, she suffered setbacks, such as the early death of her father during her childhood, a large quantity of rejections from noteworthy magazines during her pubescent writing career, bouts of severe illnesses, a miscarriage and her marriage separation. These lows would send Sylvia back under the bell jar, sending her to an insane asylum for 6 months and later   to her death by sticking her head in an unlit gas kitchen oven while her children played in the other room. She died from asphyxiation.

DO NOT FOLLOW THE STEPS OF SYLVIA ! You are the captain of your own ship. You can determine how you will react when others mistreat you, or when you suffer a devastating failure.  So many variables affect a person's life that you cannot let what they do destroy you! Everyone is fighting a war. If you do your very best and work to the best of your ability, you cannot do better than your best.  Think about it! It's impossible to do better than your best. Accept the outcome and look forward to your next experience.