E-Book Overview
A New York Times-bestselling author looks for the meaning of a good life by seeking advice from the very young and the very old.
When his first book tour ended, Brad Montague missed hearing other people's stories so much that he launched what he dubbed a Listening Tour. First visiting elementary schools and later also nursing homes and retirement communities, he hoped to glean new wisdom as to how he might become a better grownup. Now, in this playful and buoyant book, he shares those insights with rest of us --timeless, often surprising lessons that bypass the head we're always stuck in, and go straight to the heart we sometimes forget.
Each of the book's three sections begins with the illustrated story of "The Incredible Floating Girl." Brad weaves this story together with lessons of success, fear, regret, gratitude, love, happiness, and dreams to reveal the true reason we are here: to fly, and to help others fly.
Beautifully designed and featuring Montague's own whimsical 4-color illustrations that appeal to the kid in all of us, Becoming Better Grownups shares the purpose and meaning we can all discover merely by listening, and reveals that--in a world that seems increasingly childish--the secret to joy is in fact to become more childlike.
Review
"A fantastic, fanciful guide to becoming not only a happier adult but one who gives back and helps the next generation."—Library Journal, starred review
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
I don’t know the exact moment they allowed me to begin sitting at the grownups’ table. I do know I have yet to feel comfortable at it.
Growing up! It seemed like a good idea. Actually, it seemed like a great idea. Grownups have keys to cars, they can eat ice cream anytime they want, and they have all the answers. All of them.
Answers were something I wanted, and something I’m still wanting.
It all seemed so simple. Growing up would just happen to me. I had it all figured out: One day I would wake up and enter the kingdom of adulthood. Magically, this transition would be accompanied with facial hair, knowledge of tax laws, and a keen ability to find great deals, parking spaces, and difficult answers to crossword puzzles. Basically, I would know everything. Absolutely everything.
Cue high school graduation. Nothing. I walk the stage a bit wiser, I think. I touch my face—only minimal beard growth. Definitely no knowledge of tax laws. I come to the conclusion that my adulthood superpowers just haven’t quite kicked in yet. Cue college graduation: same. Marriage? Lovely, but now there are two of us who don’t have it all figured out. Cue children—and this is when, for me, panic really begins to set in. Now there are other little humans being brought into this mess and no answers. None.
I need those magic grownup powers. Maybe you do, too?
Before we go any further, it’s only proper that I let you know something: I am no expert. There, I said it. In fact, when it comes to most things, I’m what some might call gloriously inept. To ease my conscience I’ve pulled together a short, and by no means comprehensive, list of things I’m not great at (see facing page).
Now that that’s out of the way, I can let you know that I’m at least trying to be great at one thing: being a grownup. Despite my best efforts, I am what some would refer to as a “grownup.” I still can’t help strongly relating to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s words in The Little Prince, though. He says, “I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.” True words, right? There are many who give being a grownup a really bad look. You’re already thinking of names. Be nice.
For me, it was shortly after discovering I would be a father that I dubbed my life Operation Be a Better Grownup. It wa