Why Can't I Stop Crying

I Was Here + scooters + Sally Field being 77

I’m so happy to see you! How to Build a Life is a newsletter by me, bestselling author of 12 (!!) books Laura Jane Williams, going out to thousands of readers bang in the thick of life’s mess and mayhem… who are still trying to find the magic. I’m almost 40, a solo parent by choice, decorate my house like a tart’s boudoir, and lift very heavy weights. Those four things are my entire personality. Oh! And so is my new writing course for 2025! Get involved! Anyway. I really love writing to you here. Hi.

A list of everything that has made me cry lately, because yes I’ve been keeping a list because no I just can’t seem to stop:

• The opening scene of the live-action Lion King movie. I took my kid to see the west end show last year and booked aisle seats in the stalls because I’ve been before, years ago, with a bunch of Italian teenagers who talked the whole way through, and so (SPOILER!) knew the animals walked through the theatre after the interval and wanted my boy to be blown away. He was. And he remembers, because when we watched the movie he told me so. But will anything beat that NANTS INGONYAMA!!!!! at the beginning, with the sunrise and the animals? No. Never. Iconically tear-inducing. In fact, if you don’t well up at this do you even have a heart.

• The bit where Beyoncé sings Spirit in The Lion King. Two cries for that movie, then. I don’t even know which bit the song is in, but it slaps. Do the kids still say slaps? Am I supposed to say it’s Gucci? SHE ATE THAT. Okay, whatever. Point is she makes me feel. Also, I mean God, I Was Here? Especially when she sang it at the United Nations? Damn. You know those times you just need to Capital-E Emote, so you put on your Sad Songz playlist and drive nowhere and wail tonelessly at the top of your lungs? Only the ten-minute version of All Too Well can come close to I Was Here. Maybe When We Were Young by Adele, too, because it makes me feel nostalgic for things that haven’t even happened yet? How is that possible? And Rihanna’s Stay. Basic Bitch, thoust name is LJW.