Publisher's Synopsis
During the loneliest, most anxiety-inducing time of my life, my own heartbeat would startle me awake at night.
It was the spring of 2020, and I was 24. I was living alone: No partner, no pet, 2,000 miles from family. All but one of my friends had ghosted, moved, or become unavailable. I was finishing my first degree online, working part-time as a barista in a restaurant during the throes of essential work, and writing and releasing long-awaited music projects to distant audiences I'd never quite reach. This book is:The reminders I had posted on my refrigerator, on my mirror-the kind I'd normally take down when company came over, but no one ever came over; the notifications I had set up in the Reminders app on my phone; the quotes I'd stick in the back of my deliberately-transparent phone case; the letters I'd keep in my work locker. When I say these pages literally kept me going, I mean literally in the literal sense of the word. These reminders, affirmations, and thoughts rewired my neural pathways during a period of un-magical thinking. I became one with these words and that's how I made it through. Since late 2020, curiosity as a means to authenticity has become my modus operandi. We're all capable of becoming new each day. We're all capable of change if change is what we're seeking. I became someone entirely new. I became this book. 24 is a rollercoaster year, whether you're ensconced in global trauma or not. And as the world continues to operate in extremes, I hope this bedside table book will be helpful to have. If you're setting a boundary or apologizing for one, exiting or reentering your old life, I hope rewiring your thoughts with the insights in these simple words facilitates a less brutal, more authentic existence. For me, the spine of this book became the backbone I never had.
