Tag: Tara Schuster

Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies

I’m midway through Tara Schuster’s book, Buy Yourself the Fucking Lilies. It’s a memoir/self help book. After drunk dialing her therapist in the middle of the night without remembering, Tara sets off on a journey to change her ways. Aside from myself being past the dating world of my youth, it’s relatable, sometimes humorous and helpful.
She does start doing all the right things and it works: eating right, exercising, meditating, journaling and keeping a gratitude list.
From the advice of a friend, she reads The Artist’s Way and as suggested in the book, she begins writing morning pages. Three pages (about 20 minutes) of writing before you do anything else.
Tara recommends Tara Brach’s  meditations. She commits to 30 days of a gratitude journal. She suggest fake it til you make if you’re not feeling it!
May you glean something helpful from her suggestions.
Maybe buy yourself the lilies. I have dear friend who buys herself one white lily regularly just because it makes her happy! 😉

Thanks for reading.

Speak

One of my favorite things about driving a long distance is listening to audiobooks. Just this year, I discovered Laurie Halse Anderson. I read her memoir, Shout. I love the writing style, short poetic pieces. It’s empowering for anyone who is a rape survivor. She kept her own rape quiet for 23 years. I’ve been pretty quiet about mine and just starting to see the implications of being quiet about it for most of my life. My family shamed me for speaking about it. Covering the truth is instinctual in the culture I grew up in.
The audiobook, Speak, is her first novel tailored for young adults and is used in classrooms. Wonder what my life would have been like if I had that kind of literature to read in English class. The afterward of Speak is read by Jason Reynolds. I wish every father and mother would listen to his afterward. I wish every father especially would speak to their children about consent.

Currently, halfway through, Buy Yourself the Fucking Lilies, by Tara Schuster. Yea, the title is what initially attracted me to it. Already gleaning some tips, from her experience in beating her anxiety and addiction.