for example, here are the books i’ve added to my “2022 tbr” collection on my kindle. slowly between december and now, slowly adding to the list when i think “that resonates, i should read that, but probably when i’m in a better mental state to face Hard Things”.

• platform by michael hyatt
• lean out by elissa shevinsky
• the future of feeling by kaitlin ugolik phillips
• sabbath by wayne muller
• ambition addiction by benjamin shalva
• the renaissance soul by margaret lobenstine
• hello world by hannah fry
• technology and the virtues by shannon vallor
• ten lessons for a post-pandemic world by fareed zakaria
• how to be an anticapitalist in the twenty-first century by erik olin wright
• laziness does not exist by devon price
• creatrix: she who makes by lucy h. pearce
• seventh generation earth ethics by patty loew
• the case for degrowth by giorgos kallis
• your art will save your life by beth pickens
• praying with jane eyre by vanessa zoltan
• subversive sabbath by a. j. swoboda
• make your art no matter what by beth pickens
• try softer by aundi kolber
• yin magic: how to be still by sarah robinson
• the ancient guide to modern life by natalie haynes
• where wonder lives by fabiana fondevilla
• journal of a solitude by may sarton
• health at every size by linda bacon
• digital body language by erica dhawan
• the power of ritual by casper ter kuile
• work won’t love you back by sarah jaffe
• the stillness of winter by barbara mahany
• lightly by francine jay

the astute will notice some books there that were on my reading list for last year (surprise: i hardly read anything on that list). seems that themes like burnout, living and working through a pandemic, severely breaking your arm (don’t worry, there’s a long overdue story in the works), feeling separated from your spirit & creativity, being confused as fuck about how to balance technology with dreams of a simpler & more carefree life… they just can’t be neatly contained to a single year.

overdue, but an intention for this year: create more. stop waiting to have Survived Something. stop waiting for the Thing to be Over. life is life. always in progress. create through it, not out of fear of being forgotten, but so that YOU don’t forget what a strange, beautiful, hard, quiet, uncertain, magical life you’re living.

if nothing else, i should post these tbr piles more frequently. and i should let go of the idea of actually committing to reading anything on them. sometimes, the titles alone say enough.

for you, dear reader: rest. you’re not alone. you’re more valuable than society allows you to know. even if all you can do is rest for a moment, a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade… you matter and the world needs you.

p.s. also join me on oku if you like to read and track books but you don’t want all the toxicity of social media and book challenges.