Complaint: Sick of Self-Improvement

I'm tired of trying to make myself a better person.

My shelves are lined with books telling me how I can be nicer, stronger, healthier, a better parent, a better wife, a better teacher, a better person.

I'm so fucking sick of trying so hard.

Obviously I'm not the only one who feels this way. Millions of dollars, nay, billions, are made every year on self-improvement books.

We feel like if we could just find the right book, it would fix our life. Erase our character defects.

I've talked about this before. When under stress, I always search for a book to solve my problems, quell my fears, give me perspective.

But no such book truly exists.

They're band-aids, books. They help you through a tough time and then you're on your own. You get a little help when the skin is ripped and there's blood pouring out, but once the wound closes up, it's just you and the scars. There are no books about scars.

Right now I'd love to find a book called "Biting Off More than You Can Chew: A Story of Moving, Transitions, and Exhaustion." I would buy that book.

Maybe I can write that book.