Big Magic

I having a bit of two-fer reading Brené Brown's Daring Greatly and her friend Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic. I'm enjoying them both immensely as we near the end of the year and thoughts turn to introspection.

Big Magic is all over the place, and despite being filled with Pinterest worthy quotes it's delivered with an earnestness I couldn't begrudge. Screw wringing your hands over originality, chase authenticity. Eschew following your passion for giving yourself over to curiosity. Be a disciplined half-ass. Fine, it can get a little out there with the personification of ideas, looking for human hosts to manifest themselves into the world and taking a creative road trip with fear riding shotgun (no messing with the radio though!) but I'm ok with that. For me, these are like cookbooks. I'm happy if there's only a recipe or two that I really love and don't begrudge the rest of the book if some of the dishes fall flat.

So many will read this only to discover how far back their eyes can roll into their heads, but she, along with Brené Brown, Cheryl Strayed and Anne Lamott hit my sweet spot. In the end, as a painfully self-conscious introvert who has to work on putting himself out there constantly I appreciate the reminder that it doesn't matter how it's received, that the importance lies in trying anyways.