WHAT IS A WOUNDED BODY?

photo by Invitation To Inspiration

My youth began when I was 21. At least, that`s when I decided it began. That was when I started to think that all those shiny things in life- some of them might possibly be for me.

photo by Invitation To Inspiration

If you think 21 sounds a bit late for youth to start, just think about the average dumb Chinese peasant, who leaps straight from childhood to middle age with nothing in between. If I was going to miss anything out, it was middle age. Be young or die. That was my plan. 

photo by Invitation To Inspiration

People always say it`s harder to heal a wounded heart than a wounded body. Bullshit. It`s exactly the opposite- a wounded body takes much longer to heal. A wounded heart is nothing but ashes of memories. But the body is everything. The body is blood and veins and cells and nerves. A wounded body is when, after leaving a man you`ve lived with for three years, you curl up on your side of the bed as if there`s still somebody beside you. That is a wounded body: a body that feels connected to someone who is no longer there. 

photo by Invitation To Inspiration

I recalled what Huizi said to me: „Fenfang, never look back to the past, never regret, even if there is emptiness ahead.“ But I couldn`t help it. Sometimes I would rather look back if it meant that I could feel something in my heart, even something sad. Sadness was better than emptiness. 

photo by Invitation To Inspiration

I am 17 and it is a sweltering summer morning. I open the creaking shutters and look out at the hills. Rows of sweet patatoes stretch into the distance. The silent fields shimmer in the heat. I contemplate the pale clouds collecting in the sky. It`s time to leave. The unforgiving sun is melting my youthful body. I tell my 17-year-old self:

Fenfang, you must take care of your life.   

20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo 

photo by Invitation To Inspiration

How to break away from the bonds of the collective consciousness?

How to build up an individual mindset without hurting yourself to death along the way?

These are the fundamental questions which torment all of us, not just Fenfang, the Chinese peasant girl who tries to answer them in a fresh, honest and in-your-face way.

If you want to beat your prejudice about the Chinese people and be reminded how hurtful, yet liberating it was when you were only 21 Invitation To Inspiration assures you- this is the book for you!