This will probably surprise no one, but I am not very good at asking for help. Color me invincible, I’d like to think. Meanwhile, I cajole and assure my fourth graders that there is never shame in asking for help, that it’s a sign of strength. So, I need to practice what I preach, right? Yet just like when a fourth grader tries to convince me that they don’t like math until I prove to them that counting by 7s in sports touchdowns is math, I need my advice to sneak up on me and hit me square in the face. That’s where the books come in.
There have been books in my life that have chartered a course of positive affirmations, thoughtful mantras, or just damn good writing that can always bring me back to a place of deep reflection and thought when I might be feeling down or out of sorts. They provide inspiration, empathy, hope, and, for lack of better word, advice.
With that, I’d like to share a couple of quotes that I have highlighted, annotated, ear-marked, and kept at the very tip of my tongue from four different texts…and guess what, they offer advice!
“This letter is being written from the inside / From the front line / And the fault line. / From the uncertain thick of it all… One thing I am almost certain of / Is that this / Road less traveled has / in fact / been traveled by more suckers / than you think.” – For Everyone by Jason Reynolds
“I wish you more tippy toes than deep… I wish you more treasures than pockets… I wish you more pause than fast forwards.” – I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
““If you have one foot in yesterday and one foot in tomorrow, you’re pissing all over today.” – A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Future by Michael J. Fox
“”Like a page, we are only legible / When opened to one another… The only way to correctly predict / The future is to pave it / Is to brave it.” Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
same page book blog 