#bloganuary

Books That Changed My Life

/ Brienna / Leave a comment

This is an interesting prompt for me. The answer to the question “Has a book changed your life?” is clearly yes. The interesting parts lie in what books, and how.

In high school, my English teacher gave me Watership Down and The Sound and The Fury to read for book reports. I loved the former, it’s one of my all-time favorite books, and I was not too fond of the latter. However, both deepened my appreciation for the English language and literature–both capital L Literature and regular old literature.

The most recently impactful book would have to be Adam Grant’s Think Again. I was going through a rough time at my job, and I was in the process of interviewing for my now-current job with Automattic. This book gave me the courage to re-think my situation and to make the bold leap to leave a company I’d been with for 15 years.

A book in progress that I feel will be highly impactful when I finish and put it into practice is Dare to Lead by Brené Brown. I’ll be sharing a review with my thoughts on this one soon.

Other impactful books are the books that inspired my Four Pillars of Health series:

Also, I feel that any book well read changes me. As I read, I absorb a little bit of it, and I may change in myriad ways. I learn, and I become curious about new and different topics.

And lastly, I would be remiss not to mention The Animal Manifesto, which is partly responsible for my decision to become a vegetarian.

Today’s #Bloganuary prompt: Has a book changed your life?

A Memorable Gift

/ Brienna / Leave a comment

Reusing my f*ck you cancer image from last month for this one.

I’m not sure it’s a gift, per se, but it’s the most important recently.

Someone I love was recently diagnosed with cancer, and thankfully, they have been declared cancer-free after surgery. The fight is not over yet, as they are undergoing a very long and painful recovery from surgery.

I’d write more, but I don’t want to cry.

Today’s #Bloganuary prompt: What is the most memorable gift you have received?

Family Tree

/ Brienna / 1 Comment

I am not really into genealogy. My mom, however, is very into this stuff. I’m sure she could write pages and pages about it.

Me, on the other hand, I can tell you this:

  • My parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were all born in the United States.
  • Before that, my ancestors came from Europe. England, Ireland, Scotland perhaps, Germany, and maybe Italy.

When I think of a family tree, I picture an actual tree, rather than just a tree-like diagram. The tree featured in this post is from a walk I took on Thanksgiving last year with my mom, step-father Michael, Indy, and Roxy.

Today’s #Bloganuary prompt: How far back in your family tree can you go?