Thursday Thoughts - 12/01/2022
In this short newsletter, I share the most interesting things that I’ve read, heard, and/or watched over the past week.
What I Read:
Tiny Beautiful Things | Cheryl Strayed
As mentioned in my last post, I picked up Tiny Beautiful Things off of Ryan Holiday’s reading list. This book is a collection of advice columns from Cheryl Strayed’s time as Dear Sugar. The advice given in this book touches all aspects of life. There’s love, death, work, addiction, and a whole lot more.
I immensely enjoyed this book. I finished the book during the my week long vacation. It is a mix of my favorite book genres, short stories and memoirs.
I loved how each response was structured. It stats with Strayed acknowledging the writer’s situation with compassion. Then, she shares a personal story that seems unrelated to the topic. Everything comes together several paragraphs later. Finally, Sugar offers sage advice that resonates.
What I Learned:
Black Friday sales start on Tuesday
I was in Washington visiting family last week. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we went to the outlet malls near Seattle. I learned that Black Friday sales start on Tuesday at these outlet stores.
It was a fantastic experience. Most of the stores only had a handful of customers. This meant no lines or crowds. I also found clothes in the right size and color. I’m definitely checking out the outlet malls near my home on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving next year.
What I’m Pondering:
The only thing I ever hope to do as a writer is to make people feel less alone, to make them feel more human, to make them feel what I have felt so many times as a reader: stories have the power to save us by illuminating the most profoundly beautiful and terrible things about our existence.
Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful things