The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
Contents
A Thing I Have Learned
Overview
Nora articulates a manifesto against regret, asserting that meaning and the full range of emotions are accessible within a single life. She urges presence, kindness, and perspective, and embraces the future despite inevitable pain. This cements her transformed outlook and recommitment to living.
Summary
Nora Seed sets down a reflective piece, distilling what she has learned from confronting her regrets. She observes how easy it is to mourn unlived lives and recognizes that regret itself—rather than missed paths—is the real enemy that shrinks a life.
She reframes fulfillment as available within any single existence. Universal emotions—love, laughter, fear, pain—do not require sampling every possible life. Instead, she urges savoring the present moment, accepting that one person and one life can still contain infinite possibility.
Nora advocates kindness and perspective, noting how despair can shift to hope by living through it. Yesterday felt impossible; today holds potential because she looks up from her immediate spot and recognizes the vastness above.
She accepts that pain and hardship will still come, but she commits to life regardless, ending with a decisive affirmation: "A thousand times, yes."
Who Appears
- Nora SeedProtagonist; writes a manifesto rejecting regret, embracing present potential, and recommitting to life despite future pain.