It’s hard to believe it’s been months since I’ve written a post! This year, for all of us, has been such a strange one. For some, it’s been heartbreaking. For others, merely unusual. But, regardless of what’s happened in your life, 2020 has been a year of change. Like it or not, 2020’s smacked us all over the head with one of life’s universal truths: things change and, as a result, we change.
Change isn’t my favorite thing. I love a good routine, a safe space, the comfort of the known. It’s that love of sameness that prompted me to write my soon-to-be-released book, Grow Through It: Inspiration for Weathering Life’s Seasons. When, like me, you’re not a fan of change, you realize just how often it occurs, and that’s what prompted me to pen these pages. Rather than resist life’s inevitable changes, I wanted to learn to accept (and even embrace!) them. And that’s just what I did while creating this book.
Traveling from Spring to Summer, through Autumn and Winter, Grow Through It explores the metaphorical highs and lows of each season. The book is arriving at what I believe is the perfect time for me — and for all of us. It’s been a year of tremendous transformation (even if, like me, your daily life hasn’t changed all that much!), and Grow Through It looks at the many ways we can learn and grow through life’s changes.
This year has been… a lot. But if there’s one good thing to come from it, it’s this book. I’ve written many books, but this one is just different. It’s the most me in book form that I’ve ever created and I’m incredibly proud of it. Grow Through It is something special. Maybe it will only be special to me (feel free to pre-order a copy to see what you think!), but even if that’s the case, I’m fine with that. To hold something in my hands that I worked so hard on and to feel like it really represents how I felt when creating it, how it felt to be moving through all four seasons as I drew and wrote and edited, is nothing short of magic.
It’s my hope that you, too, will feel the magic in this book, that this little tome of transformation will help you cope in some way with the chaos of 2020. The book is so different from what I’ve done before, which feels fitting in this different-than-ever-before year. It’s different, yet it’s somehow the most me.
So, you know that feeling when you put on an outfit you know looks good but something feels off so then you put on another outfit that’s just so “you” and you suddenly feel more relaxed and confident? That’s how Grow Through It makes me feel. And it’s how I hope you feel when you read it. I hope it reminds you that, amidst all of this change, you are still you. You will survive whatever you go through, and you will continue to grow and change even when it feels like growth is impossible.
This year has been a year of change, which means a year of growth. (Yes, I know the year’s not over, but, as it’s my birthday, the end of August always feels like a new year and a fresh start!) Growth is hard. Growth is often messy and uncomfortable and challenging. But’s it’s always where the magic happens. And I hope that’s what I’ve harnessed in Grow Through It — the messiness and the magic of growth.
2020’s not over yet, and I know there’s a lot of change to come, but it’s up to us to make the most of whatever the coming seasons bring. I know I’ll be flipping through the pages of Grow Through It for the next few months to remind myself of all the ways change is possible. I hate to toot my own horn, but this book really is something special. I hope you’ll love it as much as I do, and I hope it’ll help you in some small way as we make our way through the rest of the year.
Learn more about Grow Through It: Inspiration for Weathering Life’s Seasons here (with links to all of the booksellers you can order from, as well as details on how to get your exclusive 2021 Coloring Calendar!).