Five Books to Change Your Life
An imperfectly illustrated self-gift guide.
(AKA other moments of courage—big and small)
Saying “screw it” to perfection: I planned on digitally illustrating this entire story. I even started to illustrate the frames before I got sick over the holidays. While drawing on my iPad is awesome, it’s also a perfect weapon for a perfectionist. I can sit and re-do and undo single sketches for hours. One of my intentions for the new year is to create with loving pleasure—not painstaking perfection. Yesterday, I arrived to Argentina, where I’m going to be working remotely for a few months, and it hit me: why wait for 2023 to start? Why not end 2022 and begin 2023 by doing what feels scariest: abandoning perfection and embracing play? After all, as I learned in Big Magic, “Perfect is not only the enemy of the good; it’s also the enemy of the realistic, the possible, and the fun.” So I scrapped my original plans. I gave myself a fixed deadline. And I had a blast shooting fresh doodles across the streets of Buenos Aires.
Exposing my love of self-development books: Self-help feels like the erotica of non-fiction. You know people are reading it, but few people are proudly shouting about it from the literary rooftops. While I try to consume a balanced diet of book genres, self-help is my guilty pleasure of choice. I love the anecdotes, the research, the strategies. Most of all, I love how you can instantly apply what you read to your daily life. As a former English major, I’m afraid to admit this (a few of my college literature professors subscribe to this newsletter…), but self-development > William Shakespeare.
Publicly declaring self-help better than Shakespeare: See above.
Tatiana Gallardo is an imperfect writer and illustrator. She’s always open to life-changing book recs—especially as she enters the new year.
YOU are the wabi-sabi the world needs.
Thank you for always inspiring me.
Happy New Year my beautiful girl.
Love this post Tatiana! I turned my nose up at self-help books in my 20s. LOL. I remember my friend recommended Brene Brown and i was like, "isn't that a self-help book!?!?" (face palm).
I am going to get the Elizabeth Gilbert book! I adore her beyond all measure.
I agree with you regarding perfectionism. I've launched that course I told you about and it's not perfect but it's out there! My mantra is going to be, "Love yourself a little bit more". Often when I am frustrated or mad at myself it's because I'm not perfect and i want to be. I want to be so bad! And then I have to remind myself I'm human. And that feels so comforting. All I need is a little love. Let's get it 2023!