Shattering the Mirror

Have you ever had to decide between doing what is expected and making an uncommon choice? Not just a travel essay, "Shattering the Mirror" is a beautiful tapestry, a voyeur into the mind of a woman who decided to say no to cultural norms so she could embrace a new life. This book helps shed light on the consequences of departing from the norm: "Instead, the glass-all cracked and broken-showed a hundred different versions of ourselves, but none of them seemed real or accurate. Each little shard promised a different future, or highlighted a different deviation we had taken from the norm. Still, none of them fit, none of them were us. We were in the cracks themselves, living behind and between and beyond these optional realities. The train rumbled up and we got on. When we stepped out onto the platform of Hazelmere, England, we felt the shards fall down behind us. The mirror was forever broken, gone. How should we see ourselves now?" With far-reaching truths applicable to everyone, whether pining for a radical change or looking for the courage to make a small one, "Shattering the Mirror" is a book for anyone who has ever thought about challenging the norm. Told alongside Cox's decision to leave everything behind to become a nomadic backpacker, this book examines what it means to shatter the mirror of our own perceptions. Cox uses hilarious anecdotes, thoughtful prose, introspective essays, and reflective poetry to chronicle fear, bravery, and everything that happens when we forge our own path.