about the book
Such is Life?: Framing a Positive "Next" Mindset in the Wake of Life's Setbacks
Life doesn’t come with a map, but it does come with lessons. In Such is Life?, Bob Steffens takes readers on a heartfelt journey through his personal triumphs and trials. From his adventurous youth in Oregon’s wild landscapes to his impactful career in the military and aerospace industries, and finally to the quieter reflections of his later years, Bob shares a life story filled with hope, loss, and the resolve to keep moving forward.
Through his relationships with his first partner, Roberta, and now with his second partner, Gail, Bob reflects on love, grief, and the resilience required to embrace life’s transitions. Inspired by Native American customs and principles of “survivance”—the celebration of life’s stories even in adversity—Bob shows how to turn setbacks into growth opportunities.
Key Themes:
- Revering nature with its capacity for survival and cherishing natural marvels that permeate and enhance our lives.
- Celebrating stoic willpower that transcends past tragedies to cultivate an earthly utopia here and now.
- Cradling a positive next while grasping a final tenderness or moving past a decisive battle.
- Framing an it’s okay mindset in the wake of life’s setbacks or the rigors of personal entanglements.
- Letting them think you’re crazy. Maybe you are and there’s nothing wrong with it.
Whether you’ve faced loss, struggled with change, or simply need a reminder of life’s beauty, Such is Life? offers a heartfelt guide to navigating life’s most challenging moments.
Such is Life? tells you in its Preface that the author is easily distracted. Nature floods Bob’s awareness nearly constantly, causing serious concentration problems with matters-at-hand as he strolls whimsically through the here and now. (in his words, “…wondering while I wander takes me to adventures that more pragmatic feet-on-the-ground folks might never experience.”) The desert passages in Such is Life? interject more serious thoughts that relate to the memoir’s central themes, but Bob poses amusing, quizzical, and provoking digressions throughout the memoir that touch on personal, political, and societal peculiarities – some nonsensical, some avaricious, some unacceptable … at least, to Bob.
