From Further Secrets of Adulthood.

I think this Secret of Adulthood operates on more than one level.

One way that I “lose myself” is by reading — I lose myself in a book, and I find myself in a book. Or music, sports, drawing, cooking…there are many ways to do this.

And also, sometimes we have to lose our way in order to find our way. @gretchenrubin (Click to Tweet!)

I’m reminded of the e. e. cummings poem, “maggie and milly and molly and may”:

maggie and milly and molly and may 
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang 
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone 
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me) 
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

I especially love that last stanza.

How about you? Do you lose yourself–to find yourself?

Gretchen Rubin is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Happiness Project—an account of the year she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier—and the recently released Happier at Home and Better Than Before. On her popular blog, The Happiness Project, she reports on her daily adventures in the pursuit of happiness. For more doses of happiness and other happenings, follow Gretchen on Facebook and Twitter.

Featured image courtesy of Blake Verdoorn.