“You know what this entire session has been about, don’t you?”
No, I said.
“It’s about being forced to sum up. Looking at your life. Asking yourself if you’ve truly lived it. Asking yourself what you’ve really got to leave behind. This is something everybody has to face. It’s hard to face. But if you face it now, and make whatever changes you need to make, you’re going to have a shot at dying peaceful.”
— Joan Didion, in a discussion with her therapist, in Notes to John (Knopf, April 22, 2025)
Notes:
- NY Times Book Review: “Peeking into Joan Didion’s Years of Psychological Thinking. Drawn from her previously unpublished reflections on sessions with a therapist, “Notes to John” is at once slightly sordid and utterly fascinating.”
- Guardian Book Review: “‘I dealt with everyone at a distance’: what do Joan Didion’s therapy diaries reveal about guilt, motherhood and writing?
- The Atlantic: Joan Didion’s Books Should Have Been Enough.”
- Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.
I love her writing, she’s such an interesting person
She certainly is. And this book sheds much more light on her and her family.
Oooh, this sounds fascinating.
I need to ask myself this question every morning, after I get dressed and I pull my hair up, “Sawsan, you know what this is about, don’t you?”
I find it interesting that she documented her therapy sessions in writing. If I need anything to stick, I need to write it down too. But I’ll make sure to burn it so no one publishes it when I’m gone.
And she wrote down the therapy sessions in such incredible detail…
But this is private!!!
https://readwise.io/reader/shared/01jsq33g7frz8hgb2gph7aas53
Thank you for sharing. And I agree.
WOW, I wd have to say a lot to this…. but certainly that: Keep.it private.
That was certainly the view of the reviewer that I added to the post!
I’m not familiar with Didion’s work. Yours is the second post in two days that I’ve read about her work , specifically “Notes to John”. I must read her books! Thank you 😊
Great. If you want to learn more about this book, I’ve added the links to top book reviews in the post.