With a never-ending lineup of assignments, quizzes and exams, it’s been a while since I’ve read an entire book, especially one that falls under the ‘self-help’ or ‘positive mindset’ category. I’ve always been an avid reader growing up, but as I transitioned from middle school to high school to university, I dedicated less and less time to it. I spent all of my free time going out with friends, scrolling on my phone or watching Netflix, and it wasn’t until I wanted to improve my writing that I realized I needed to make reading a regular habit.
This revelation led me to decide that I would dedicate a period of time each day to reading. I started by signing myself up for a subscription to The New Yorker, a popular American magazine, as I wanted to read at least one article per day. I then set out to find a book I’d be interested in enough to read, and based on the multiple TikToks I had watched recommending Brianna Wiest’s 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think, I decided that hers would be a good start. But as I walked into my local bookstore, I remember feeling hesitant about the purchase: as a skeptic of the positive thinking movement, I doubted whether Wiest’s book would be engaging enough to read every day. I decided to go through with my purchase anyway, and looking back, it was definitely the right decision.
To integrate reading back into my life, I committed ten to thirty minutes each morning to read one article from the New Yorker and one essay from Wiest’s book. Her book includes over one hundred essays, which were normally quite short. While reading a single article and two pages of a book doesn’t necessarily scream, “I’m an avid reader!”, taking small steps to achieve a goal is what made it sustainable for me.
As I’m writing this nearly four months later, reading Wiest’s 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think every morning reminded me that there’s so much more to the world than my own, limited perspectives and experiences. Her writing was easily digestible, making it a light read that didn’t require too much focus. And as a self-help, wellness-oriented book, I can see why it was so highly rated: the writing was simple enough that you could use it as a script for a motivational speech.
Essays like 10 Things Emotionally Intelligent People Do Not Do and 16 Signs of a Socially Intelligent Person helped me reflect on my current thinking patterns, as though I considered myself an emotionally and socially intelligent person, it was not until I read these essays that I realized how much progress I still needed to make. Meanwhile, essays like “Stop Chasing Happiness” reminded me that many of us are making the mistake of believing that the path to happiness is a to-do list, where completing x, y and z will result in happiness.
Upon completion of the book, I consider the essay “Things We Expect of Others (but Rarely Consider Changing Ourselves)” to be the most important chapter of the book. Wiest masterfully illustrates our everyday hypocrisies; while we expect everyone to treat us with kindness, we give ourselves a pass when we’re unkind to someone (either to their face or behind their back) because ‘they deserve it’ or because we had a bad day/were tired/just wanted to vent.’ Applying this to our desire for honesty, we expect others to be truthful, but when we tell a lie, it’s because ‘we’re doing the other person a favour’ or because ‘we don’t want to hurt their feelings.’ An essay like this is something that everyone should read, especially in the age of social media where the people preaching kindness and authenticity are the ones who are most judgmental and critical of others’ lack of said kindness and authenticity.
Hundreds of news articles and almost two books later, I know that making reading a daily habit improved my writing and refreshed my mindset. Brianna Wiest’s 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think pleasantly surprised me with its depth and inspirational tones, and coupled with the feelings of accomplishment I already felt after having achieved my goal, her writing taught me new things about myself and those around me. Anyone wanting to read more would benefit from daily readings of her book, as it’s an easy, feel-good way to start your day – and you never know, it could change the way you think, too.