Page 200 - Bridget Jones's Diary - by Helen FIELDING

Daniel and general misery and arranged to meet at Jimmy Beez at two for a

Bloody Mary.

6 p.m. As luck would have it, Jude had just been reading brilliant book called
Goddesses in Everywoman. Apparently the book says that at certain times in
your life everything goes wrong and you don't know which way to turn and it is

as if everywhere around you stainless steel doors are clamping shut like in Star
Trek. What you have to do is be a heroine and stay brave, without sinking into
drink or self-pity and everything will be OK. And that all the Greek myths and
many successful movies are all about human beings facing difficult trials and not
being wimps but holding hard and thus coming Out on top.

The book also says that coping with difficult times is like being in a conical
shell-shaped spiral and there is a point at each turn that is very painful and
difficult. That is your particular problem or sore spot. When you are at the
narrow, pointy end of the spiral you come back to that situation very often as the
rotations are quite small. As you go round, you will go through the troubled time

less and less frequently but still you must come back to it, so you shouldn't feel
when it happens that you are back to square one.

Trouble is now I have sobered up not sure I am 100 percent sure what she was

talking about.

Mum rang up and I tried to talk to her about how difficult it is being a woman

and having a sell-by date for reproduction unlike men, but she just said, 'Oh,
honestly, darling. You girls are just so picky and romantic these days: you've
simply got too much choice. I'm not saying I didn't love Dad but, you know, we
were always taught, instead of waiting to be swept off our feet, to 'expect little,
forgive much.' And to be honest, darling, having children isn't all it's built up to
be. I mean, no offense, I don't mean this personally but given my chance again
I'm not sure I'd have . . . '

Oh God. Even my own mother wishes I'd never been born.