The best is the enemy of the good. — Voltaire, writer/philosopher - Meg Jay

How do you get the happy ending? John Irving ought to know. One of my favorite authors, Irving writes these multigenerational epics of fiction that somehow work out in the end. How does he do it? He says, 'I always begin with the last sentence ; then I work my way backwards, through the plot, to where the story should begin.' That sounds like a lot of work, especially compared to the fantasy that great writers sit down and just go where the story takes them. Irving lets us know that good stories and happy endings are more intentional than that.

Most 20 something's can't write the last sentence of their lives. But when pressed, they usually can identify things they want in their 30s or 40s or 60s -or things they don't want- and work backward from there. This is how you have your own multigenerational epic with a happy ending. This is how you live your life in real time.

Sometimes dating or married couples decide to split because things change — someone cheated or had to move — but, more often, people split up because things don’t change. It is far more common to hear couples say that, in retrospect, the differences were there all along.

did not want to “just have some office job and work nine to five like everyone else.” Ian was on a sneaky search for glory. He suffered less from the tyranny of the should than he did from the tyranny of the should-not.