Emily Ehlers describes herself as an illustrator, writer, environmentalist + very bad dancer.
We know her as the lass whose witty and poignant pieces combine art and activism in the greatest possible way.
Today Em speaks with Jade about writing a book about hope as a self-proclaimed anxious person, humour as a tool for resilience, mental health truths, value stacking and all kinds of good stuff that’ll, with any luck, lift you in this time of uncertainty.
Em has a new book out called Hope Is A Verb, so be sure to check it out if you like what you hear!
SHOW NOTES
- Writing a book about hope as an anxious person
- Finding reassurance in the doing
- Becoming a lighthouse that attracts like minded people
- Being aware of confirmation bias; actively being open to those you disagree with
- Using family to trial how you manage differing opinions
- Seeking to understand and then be understood
- Being more radical than the angle you present publicly for the sake of shifting the needle
- Providing tools that allow people to ‘enter the arena’
- Humour as a tool for resilience
- Fuelling our psyche with hope
- Hope isn't a stagnant thing, what it needs to be is ‘active hope’
- Having self compassion and understanding that we're human
- The things that make us most human are also the things which make us our most magnificent
- Going off antidepressants in order to write a book about hope and feeling the feelings
- Getting kids to know their values and to live within them
- Giving kids more credit than we do
- Value stacking
- Being aware of your marinade
- Inoculating yourself against regret
- Learning to unlearn takes balls, gumption and desire
- Acknowledging that we are in the system that dominates us and we just need to do our best with what we have
- Gently shifting narrative so that people want to join you not run from you
- Rebuilding culture
- Thinking of self like a veggie patch: seasonal, phased, nurtured from the ground up
- Just start. Pick a thing. Stop over analysing and just do.
LINKS YOU'LL LOVE
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