When I finished the highly acclaimed Korean bestseller book The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-Mi Hwang, I did not like it. Even though it had raving reviews and many called it captivating, betwiching and inspirational.

I wanted to love it, the way I loved The Alchemist and Jonathan Livingston Seagull which it has been compared to. I did love it while I was reading it and was rooting for Sprout the hen till I came to the ending.

The issue isn’t with the beautifully written thought-provoking fable.

It is my discomfort with the ending which in my mind, is not a happy one.

It stirred up uncomfortable feelings within me about the fragility of life and the reality of the circle of life.

A week after I completed the book, I had the opportunity to take UK’s highest mountain railway and Scotland’s only furnicular railway to the top of the Cairngorm Mountain.

It was beautiful moments soaking in the beauty.

We took the furnicular back to the base and as I walked out of the base station, I came across this mural with a beautiful poem.

Up the mountain, nature’s best,
Hare and Eagle, dwell and crest,
Snowy coat, bounding high,
Golden wings paint the sky.

Delicate harmony, predator and prey,
Cairngorm’s symphony on dsiplay,
Respect all life, wild and free,
Learn from the mountain’s unity.

The poem stilled the discomfort that the book had triggered. It allowed me to embrace that the journey that Sprout the hen took gave her the joy that she wanted.  The story’s ending may not have aligned with my initial notions of triumph but she lived her truth, pursued her dreams and fulfilled her purpose. Circle of life.  

Happiness does not depend on happy endings alone because how we depart from this earth naturally (the ending) is not something totally within our control.

Take the example of my late uncle who was tragically killed in an accident by a careless driver while out happily cycling. The ending was not a happy one.

But we chose to celebrate his life instead of allowing the ending to fill us with bitterness because that’s who my uncle was when he was alive. Wanting others around him to be happy and comfortable.

How we choose to live, respond and celebrate at each moment is in your control.

To choose joy is to reclaim our aliveness. It is to say: I will not wait for perfect conditions. I will notice the light, even in the cracks.

To hold joy not as a destination but as a way of being. To create many happy endings at each stage of our lives.