Malala.
BY CHRISTIAN ADRIAN BROWN
FIT LIT Body, Mind and Quill
ABOUT THE COLUMNIST
Quadragenarian fitness model, lifestyle coach and bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Feast of Fates, Christian A. Brown received a Kirkus star in 2014 for the first novel in his genrechanging Four Feasts till Darkness series. He has appeared on Newstalk 1010, AM640, Daytime Rogers, and Get Bold Today with LeGrande Green. He actively writes and speaks about his mother’s journey with cancer and on gender issues in the media.
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Spring has sprung, and with the turn in the season comes a chance for new opportunities and adventures. While worrying events continue to assail our societies, I cannot stress enough the need to maintain a positive attitude and aptitude for growth. I suppose I should make the distinction between "self-care"—which has become a relatively meaningless dog-whistle for would-be-gurus and narcissists, in my opinion—and fostering wellness, community and kinship. As a culture, we tend to focus too much on a.) ourselves b.) quick fixes and the self-care label easily lends itself concealing, not healing, each of those failings. And no, updating your status or Twitter feed with the latest trendy hashtag does not a philanthropist make. For better or worse, being a "good" person requires a feedback loop of questioning, critique and evaluation between the self and the environment. It involves empathy and active involvement in the lives and welfare of others. Indeed, we learn not only from our own experiences moreover from others who've walked similar or even wildly different paths. To that end, I wanted to share with you my experience with a story sitting on my to-be-read pile since before the pandemic tripled its size. A story that I'd finally got around to starting on a dismal, rainy day where no other entertainment appealed to my melancholic mood. I finished the book in a day once I fell into the pages. You might say that I'd been putting off the read because of its daunting subject matter: cultural divides, oppressive hierarchies, all culminating in a violent assault. I am, of course, talking about: I am Malala.
