Carolyn Gage
Common Courage Press
1997

In the great self-help wonderland that is the 1990s, the book of meditations has become a recognized staple. A guide for focusing one's thoughts, the book of meditations usually comes equipped with an overall theme, such as alcoholism, Taoism, women-who-do-too-much, etc. Carolyn Gage's new offering, while similar in structure to the standards of the genre, has taken it into an entirely new realm with Like There's No Tomorrow. Simply put, she has supercharged the idea of self-help and brought it to self-power by bringing political and social awareness and action into this setting of mental focus.

The book, rather than being arranged chronologically, is laid out as a journey to strength, each short essay taking its tone from a concept (such as "freedom" or "strategy") and usually a quotation from a woman Gage feels embodies that concept (or the struggle against it). Thus there is a moving essay on Art, and its suppression in women, introduced by this quote from Toni Morrison's Sula:

Like any artist without an art form, she became dangerous.

It would be easy to dismiss this book as just another in a long series of books aimed at inspiring, comforting, and guiding women along their inner journeys. To do so however, would miss the point. In Like There's No Tomorrow, Carolyn Gage has written a book that does all of those necessary things, and then shows us what the next step is: action. And she shows it not only by calling for action loudly, but by living it in her own life and showing us the examples of other women who have done so. It is a book that inspires one to thoughtful courage in the face of modern adversities.