now that we know that the humble objective of this book blog is change, how does one go about changing the world with a book blog?
simple, one doesn’t.
at least not directly.
the only thing under our direct control is ourselves.
so, if we want to change the world, we need to start with ourselves and take it from there.
personal growth
the idea of having a strong foundation upon which to build is not new and certainly not mine, but i couldn’t agree more.
so this blog will look at personal development and personal growth books with some of the following themes:
minimalism
my journey into personal growth started with minimalism.
however, unintentionally.
i just happened to be moving 4 times in 5 years.
take it from me :
when you move a lot, you start questioning the ‘stuff’ in your life A LOT.
then a friend mentioned marie kondo and the rest is history.
psychology
from there, i stumbled into psychology because i was always fascinated about how the human mind works.
also i was bored and i figured why not start distance learning towards a bachelor degree?
mindfulness
eventually i needed to do something about the stress in my life. might’ve had something to do with the distance learning on top of a full-time job?
nah… you think?
anyway, how could i not but turn towards yoga and mindfulness?
lifestyle design
any workload is easier when you wonder about personal productivity and, combined to a minimalism mindset, the jump to essentialism is a no-brainer.
all that to conclude (so far) that the design of our life should involve conscious and deliberate decisions.
most of these tend to require financial freedom and who says financial freedom says financial literacy and personal finance.
societal change
if all of us are society, then theoretically by changing ourselves we will indeed also change society.
in case that’s not enough (spoiler alert : i don’t believe it’s as easy as this), we swill look into social psychology on this book blog.
my favourite game changer concept (so far) :
social constructs
feminism
if someone had asked me before my psychology course work whether i was a feminist, my answer would have been a meek yes-is.
since then, my answer is a loud, resounding and proud YES.
feminism touches something almost visceral inside of me.
i’m not sure i even understand myself.
don’t you worry though.
i do not hate men.
never have.
on the contrary, i’m a big fan of most of them.
but i have had enough conversations with men close to me about gender to know that this needs to be stated loud and clear.
even though the one thing doesn’t have anything to do with the other.
there is no delving into feminist psychology without learning about intersectionalism and privilege.
fortunately for me, feminist psychology is very adamant about this.
as a caucasian, cisgender, financially somewhat comfortable woman living in an affluent western society with an excellent social system, i still have a lot of educating to do on privilege.
global change
however, none of this will be helpful when we have no place to live and no air to breathe.
yes, i know, that was an overly dramatic sentence, but when you really think about it, the situation is overly dramatic.
the planet is dying!
ok, it isn’t.
it’s really ‘just’ mankind that’s in trouble. the planet will heal and restore some form of balance.
it’s in its nature.
but humans?
unclear at this point.
sustainability and our link with and to nature relate back to the personal growth theme such as
- consumerism (as opposed to minimalism) and
- disconnection (as opposed to mindfulness).
which is why they are so interesting to cover on a book blog because looking at books from one theme, we really also look into the other theme.
et voilà!
we’ve come full circle.
i sincerely hope that learning and thinking about these themes and topics will fascinate you as much as me.
i can’t wait to dig into them with you.
idealistically yours,
the simps
