Hey Reader!

I'm writing you from NEW YORK CITY! 🗽

This week, I'm here celebrating Women & Words, Penguin Random House and Storehouse Voices’ incredible new publishing initiative dedicated to amplifying the stories of underrepresented women. Last night, we gathered for dinner, and today I'm spending the day with these phenomenal authors as they pitch agents, close deals, and get their stories out into the world.

And here's what makes my heart ESPECIALLY full: 15 of the 100 women invited are students from The Book Academy! 🙌🏾

Watching my students step into rooms they were told they didn't belong in? Seeing them claim their seat at tables that weren't originally set for them? THIS is why I do what I do. This is the work. 🥹

But yeah, let's talk about what else has been on my mind this week. 👇🏾

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RANT

Daylight Savings Time needs to GO.

Listen... WHY are we still doing this?! 😩

Every single year, we go through this ridiculous ritual of moving our clocks forward or backward, and every single year it throws us completely off. When we spring forward, it's EXHAUSTING. We lose an hour of sleep and spend the next week walking around like zombies. When we fall back, it's DEPRESSING. Suddenly it's dark at 5pm and we're all wondering why we feel like crawling into bed at 6:30. 😒

You know where this nonsense started? During wartime. The idea was to save fuel by taking advantage of daylight hours. Fine, I guess that made sense when we were literally at war. But we just... kept it? Even after the war ended? Make it make sense. 💀

And it gets WORSE. It used to end in October, but then they moved it to November and made it start earlier in March. You wanna know why? Lobbying. The golf industry wanted more daylight for tee times. The candy industry wanted more trick-or-treating hours to boost Halloween sales. 👀

So we're out here wielding TIME ITSELF for financial reasons?!?!

We can manipulate the very fabric of how we experience our days because some industries decided they wanted to make more money? And we all just... go along with it? Twice a year, disrupting our sleep schedules, our children's routines, our bodies' natural rhythms, because someone needed to sell more Snickers bars?

The audacity. THE AUDACITY. 🗣️

Our circadian rhythms don't care about retail sales. Our bodies don't give a damn about golf courses. And frankly, neither should our legislation.

It's 2025. We have the technology to light our homes. We can work flexible hours. We don't need to be out here playing games with the sun for capitalism's sake.

Abolish Daylight Savings Time. Let time be time. Let us SLEEP. 😭

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REFLECTION

Life is too short to save the good things.

This weekend, I finally found the sneakers I've been searching for. You know the ones. The pair you've had your eye on, checking websites, waiting for them to come back in stock, debating whether you really "need" them.

Well, I found them. And you know what I did? I wore them IMMEDIATELY. 👟

Not "I'll save them for a special occasion." Not "I'll wear them when I have somewhere fancy to go." I put those sneakers on and walked out into the world the very next day.

And it hit me: Why do we do this to ourselves?

Why do we save the good perfume for events that never come? Why do we keep the fancy candles on a shelf, unburned? Why do we wait for "the right time" to enjoy the things that bring us joy?

We treat pleasure like it's something we have to earn instead of something we're allowed to experience. We spend our whole lives waiting for permission to enjoy ourselves. But nobody's coming to grant it. YOU are the permission.

That moment we're waiting for? It's a mirage. There will always be a reason to wait. There will always be something more important, more pressing, more "worthy" of the good things.

And while we're waiting, life is passing us by. The candle stays unlit. The perfume evaporates in the bottle. The sneakers go out of style in the box.

We're not being responsible by saving things. We're rehearsing our own deprivation. Somewhere along the way, many of us internalized the belief that we have to prove ourselves worthy of ease. Of beauty. Of delight. That joy is a reward for being productive enough, thin enough, successful enough, disciplined enough.

But that's a lie. 🗣️

Your worthiness isn't something you achieve. It's something you already are.

You being alive right now? You making it through this week, this month, this season of your life? THAT is the occasion. That IS the celebration. 🥹

Saving your joy for later is just another way of telling yourself you're not worth celebrating now. You are.

So I'm making a commitment, and I'm inviting you into it with me: I'm using the good things. Wear the outfit. Spray the perfume. Light the candle. Use the good china. Take the day off.

Life is happening RIGHT NOW. And I refuse to spend another day waiting for permission to enjoy myself.

Let's stop rehearsing deprivation and start practicing joy. 🙏🏾

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RECOMMENDATION

Come see me in conversation with Malala Yousafzai this Sunday!

Speaking of not waiting for the "right time," if you're in Chicago this Sunday, November 9, I want to see you!

I'll be in conversation with Malala Yousafzai about her newly minted NYT bestselling book "Finding My Way." Y'all know I don't take opportunities to be in conversation with icons lightly, and THIS ONE is special. 🥰

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If you can't make it to Chicago but want to catch her on tour, check out her other tour dates here. Trust me, this is a conversation you don't want to miss. 👀

So here's what I'm wondering: What joy are you claiming this week?

What’s the ONE good thing you’ve been saving that you’re finally going to use? The fancy dish soap? The cashmere sweater? The nice journal that’s been collecting dust? I’ll go first: I’m lighting that candle I’ve been “saving” for guests.

Now it's your turn: what good thing are you using this week? Hit reply and tell me. I want to celebrate it with you. ✨

With joy (and new sneakers),

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P.S. My Patreon fam has been getting exclusive behind-the-scenes content from my NEW BOOK! If you want in on these moments, come join us over there. The community is everything. 🫶🏾

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