Bookish Thursday - The Purpose of Getting Lost by Tracy Smith

Despite the crazy weather here in North Carolina, where one day it is in the 80's and the next day we have a frost/freeze warning, it is time for a book review for WOW - Women on Writing. This one, The Purpose of Getting Lost - a Story of Finding Myself by Tracy Smith in on tap.

First, the business of the review - 

Book Summary

The Purpose of Getting Lost is a reflective memoir about identity, belonging, and the courage to question the life you’ve carefully built. As Tracy Smith enters midlife—navigating the end of a long marriage, children growing up, and a growing sense of disconnection—she realizes she has spent years performing for expectations rather than listening to herself.

Through solo travel across more than thirty countries, Tracy doesn’t search for reinvention or escape, but for clarity. In unfamiliar places and quiet moments in between, she begins to notice her patterns, longings, and the stories she’s lived by—some worth keeping, others ready to be released.

Told with honesty, warmth, and insight, The Purpose of Getting Lost explores what it means to stop waiting to belong and start building a sense of home from the inside out. It’s a book for anyone who has ever felt out of place, questioned who they are becoming, or sensed that getting lost might be an essential part of finding their way.

Publisher: Compass Story Press

ISBN-13: 979-8993320717

ASIN: B0GFY8KR3J

Print length: 264 pages

 

Purchase a copy of The Purpose of Getting Lost on Amazon or Bookshop.org. Be sure to also add it to your GoodReads reading list.

About the Author

Tracy Smith, Ph.D. is a writer exploring the intersection of travel, identity, and belonging. Her work focuses on the small, often uncelebrated moments when women begin choosing themselves—sometimes quietly, sometimes far from home.

Through personal narrative and place-based storytelling, Tracy examines what happens when certainty loosens, expectations fall away, and life is allowed to remain unresolved. Her writing is less about escape and more about attention: noticing how freedom, acceptance, risk, and community take shape in everyday lives across cultures and landscapes.

She is the author of The Purpose of Getting Lost and the creator of The Geography of Connection, an ongoing project that follows these themes through travel, essays, and lived experience. Tracy’s work speaks to readers navigating reinvention, midlife change, and the courage it takes to live without a neat ending.

You can follow the author at: 

Her Substack: https://substack.com/@tracysmithauthor

Her Website: https://tracysmithauthor.com/

Now for my opinion...

Tracy, like many women, found herself wondering about many things in her life. The kids were older and she was feeling 'lost'. As she said in her introduction...

"The stereotypes are easy: men buy cars, women book flights."

For years, the idea of just packing up and leaving sounded wonderful. Just pack that suitcase and keep away from everything familiar. And I have been intrigued by women who are actually brave enough to do so. 

Most of the books written are where they are looking for and/or following what might or might not be a new love. Some go to find their family roots to see if that place feels like home. But for whatever reason, I feel most women, if they are honest, have all wanted to do the same for whatever reason they have deep down.

This is a great read. Not only can you appreciate and feel for Tracy and her journey, both inner and outer, but it makes you take a look at yourself and your life.

But don't take just my opinion, check out the following reviews.