Books & Banter: Maybe, Maybe Not by Elizabeth Gillman

What if the things we do to feel safe are also the things keeping us from fully living? In this conversation, author Elizabeth Gilman and I explore that question through her novel Maybe, Maybe Not, which follows Annie as she navigates OCD, grief, friendship, and the uncertainty that comes with changing a life she has built around what feels safe. We talk about what OCD is really like to live with, why reassurance and anxiety don’t always work the way we expect, and the difficult distinction between loving someone and accommodating their fears. But this conversation reaches well beyond OCD. We talk about the friends who help us become braver, how we find our footing when the person we lean on is the person we’re grieving, and how to know when a familiar way of coping is helping us survive versus keeping us stuck. You might like this conversation if you’ve ever struggled with uncertainty, loved someone through something you couldn’t fix, or wondered how to build a life shaped less by fear and more by what matters to you. Related links Click here (   • Books & Banter: Maybe, Maybe Not by Elizab...  ) to watch this conversation on YouTube. Click here (https://elicitingesperance.substack.c...) to read my written review of Maybe, Maybe Not. Click here (https://bookshop.org/a/121937/9798996...) to buy Maybe, Maybe Not. Click here (https://elizabethgillman.squarespace....) to subscribe to Elizabeth's e-mail list. If you'd like to receive new Books & Banter conversations in your inbox, subscribe to Eliciting Esperance (https://elicitingesperance.substack.com/) . And if this episode resonated with you, please consider sharing it with a friend or rating the podcast. Both help more people find this work, and I'm grateful. Esperance (es-per-uhns): the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. Thank you to Mallory Ayres Griffiths (https://pixabay.com/users/melodyayres...) for the use of their human-created music for this podcast. Get full access to Eliciting Esperance at elicitingesperance.substack.com/subscribe (https://elicitingesperance.substack.c...)